


Little

by BestRobinEvr, Vera_lemur



Series: Little [1]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Batman and Robin (Comics), DCU, DCU (Comics), Nightwing (Comics)
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Future Sexual Content, Gen, M/M, Roleplay, but written like a fic so no ooc stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-10
Updated: 2015-01-07
Packaged: 2018-01-15 06:08:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 12
Words: 34,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1294246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BestRobinEvr/pseuds/BestRobinEvr, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vera_lemur/pseuds/Vera_lemur
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Malfunctioning equipment made to distort the time stream causes Dick to physically and mentally lose over half his life. Now barely ten years old again, Dick is now Damian’s younger brother and confused as to why he’s not ‘Robin’ anymore. Damian is confused in GENERAL about how to handle being the ‘older’ brother, and finds that he really doesn’t want the role. Is the change permanent? If and when they can reverse this, will Dick remember any of it? If Damian is SO opposed to being Dick’s older brother what does he want from the other? </p>
<p>Dick and Alfred are played by Vera while Damian and Bruce are played by BestRobinEvr. Other characters are shared and passed around at our leisure.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is an RP Vera and I wrote and we are choosing to leave in in that format. 
> 
> '~~~~' separates each tag, this is the least jarring way we can separate it. We know it switches back and forth in POVs but again I say its an RP. We hope you love it.

“Thank you Master Richard, that’s all of the questions I have for you at the moment. I would ask that you wait here while I confer with Master Bruce.” Alfred said, giving an affectionate pat on Dick’s knee. His implacable cool straining to cover the worry from the young boy.

“Kay. If I get bored, can I handwalk and stuff?” Dick asked, looking imploringly at Alfred from where he sat on the gurney. Alfred very nearly said, ‘You know full well,’ when he blinked and realized that THIS Dick Grayson did not.

“So long as you are uninjured and do not leave the immediate area, there is no reason why not.” Alfred replied, parroting an old rule he and Bruce had established many years ago for Dick. At least, many years ago according to THEIR memories.

Dick sat on the gurney, kicking his feet in the sort of absent fidget that most young boys of ten are prone to do. And indeed ten once more he was, though exactly how no one was sure. A young thief intending to steal technology that affected the time stream was in police custody, but too little too late. The machine he stole was haphazardly activated and left young Master Richard even younger than was natural. Walking to Bruce, Alfred decided to start in on the good news, “You’ll be pleased to know that Master Richard is perfectly healthy in spite of the incident, Master Bruce.”  
~~~~  
The man almost sighed in relief, almost. It was only one issue of many solved. “Thats something.”

“I don’t understand.” Damian tried to say calmly and without shouting his frustration. “Is this Grayson our Grayson just deaged or has he switched places with his past self?” Damian directed his question to Alfred since Bruce all but growled his annoyance at being questioned for the 8th time while trying to sodder a new motherboard to the almost ruined device. He was trying to solve the issue. He didn’t have time to answer Damian’s every question. 

“Penny- ... Alfred?” Damian asked concerned. He refused to admit it. Seeing Dick younger and with that... that LOOK on his face, confused and trying not to be scared, it scared Damian. He didn’t know what to do with that.  
~~~~  
“It would be difficult to tell though perhaps Master J'onzz might be able to verify that for us.” Alfred looked at Dick sitting on the gurney, he was fidgeting with his feet in such a way that Alfred knew the boy would start hand walking or the like very soon. “However, Young Master Richard has no memories not appropriate to his age, for instance he has no knowledge of who you are. In effect we are dealing with your latter option, though to say for sure if he has actually physically traded places with his younger self or has merely had his personal time wound back, again, we would need League assistance to say for sure.” There were other options, but Alfred wouldn’t mention all the ways time could be meddled with, Damian had an expression like he’d eaten something foul and Alfred was worried about that exact hunch in Bruce’s shoulders. 

Bruce Wayne didn’t panic, not on the outside, not in front of others. (whenever he could help it, which was nearly always) But Alfred knew that line in Bruce’s shoulders, the dip and curve of his back, the tinge in his voice.

There were days Alfred wished that the boy he’d raised could stop and feel human for a little while. Then there were nights like this one where he cursed himself a fool for asking for this. Bruce was worried, more than that he was using his obsessive tendencies on the device’s remaining parts to channel his fear into productivity. And for his efforts to help Dick, he might very well hurt both his sons.  
~~~~  
“Wha- what do we do?” Damian looked over to the fidgeting 10 year old in the med bay, unconsciously fidgeting in mimick. Bruce saw the movement from the corner of his eye and let the childlike familiar movement creep into his youngest son sooth a small amount of his worry. Bruce had seen Dick’s ticks and tendencies rub off on Damian before and seeing this was actually cute. 

“First we reconstruct the machine,” Bruce sighed angrily as the board shorted out. He’d need another one. “Figure out how it works. It’ll tell us what happened and maybe even how to fix it.” Bruce gathered up the machine and some materials as Damian split his attention between Dick and Bruce. “I’m going to take this to the Watch Tower and talk to the League. Someone might have a lead on this.” Damian headed to the Batmobile right behind Bruce. “Stay here. Watch over Dick.”

“WHAT?!” Damian almost yelled. “No Father! I am not good with children!”

“Maybe this will be good practice for you.” Bruce grinned and shut the door driving off leaving his youngest son baffled and looking to Alfred for direction.  
~~~~  
Dick frowned. That kid Damian was a puzzle no one was willing to explain to him right at the moment. Dick understood that he had a kind of accident while out on patrol, that much was obvious. What WASN’T obvious was how much OLDER bruce looked, all the new trophies in the cave, how Bruce’s uniform had suddenly changed, why that kid Damian was wearing a different version of the Robin costume he’d designed (though Dick HAD to admit it looked really awesome, despite the heavy boots Dick wouldn’t have picked for the world.) and why he called Bruce ‘father.’ Bruce didn’t have children, though he certainly had his pick of the beautiful women he would sometimes find himself with. Maybe Damian was another ward of Bruce’s who called him ‘father?’ 

Father. Not even ‘Dad,’ and the kid had a faint accent when he wasn’t deliberately hiding it. Damian talked like he had an allergy to contractions and a stick up his butt. He acted like he was SO much older than Dick and Dick was nearly positive that they were close to one another in age. Too many questions, not enough answers and Dick was so antsy he hadn’t realized when he had started holding a one handed handstand. At Damian’s raised voice however, Dick flipped off the gurney.

“What the heck do you mean, ‘Children?’ YOU’RE a kid too.” Enough was enough, patience wasn’t Dick’s strong suit, he was confused and yeah, sure, he could admit scared too. He wanted answers, action, progress… he really wanted dinner. Cripes, he was hungry. Maybe Alfred’s worry could be utilized to procure Dick’s favorite dishes?  
~~~~  
Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. 

“I. Am. Not. A. Child. Grayson!” Damian all but growled out. “Only in your ridiculous culture do you consider the numerical count of years lived as an indicator of adulthood. I have not been a child since I was four and I-” Damian turned around facing Dick to see a look of anger, confusion, and something he didn’t like and had stopped him dead before, fear. He REALLY didn’t like seeing Dick upset. It was... unnerving? No worse. He just couldn’t his finger on the word.

“I... do not, as you would say, ‘hang out’ with chi-” He stopped and corrected himself. “others my age, due to their severe lack of maturity and insufferable tendencies.”  
~~~~  
“Dude, do you ACTUALLY have an allergy to contractions?” Dick blurted out, “Cause I haven’t heard you use one YET.” Dick crossed the room to look between the two faces, one familiar (if slightly older looking than it should be) and one new. “You being a mini-adult aside for the moment, and trust me, I’m coming back to that. I have a METRIC TON of questions. Most of which have to do with you and what you’re wearing but the most important one is: Alfred, when is dinner?” Dick tried to keep a smile on his face but it fell into a grimace as he hugged his empty middle, “I swear I feel like I haven’t eaten in a month. A WHOLE month Alfred, it’s awful.”

Alfred’s face was the streamlined calm that told Dick the man was upset, that he’d BEEN upset when he’d checked Dick over, and Alfred being upset was tantamount to treason in Dick’s book, and what better way to get that look off his face then to allow him to worry about something safe. 

“I can have something whipped up shortly while I make a proper dinner.” Alfred said decisively, moving to shepard both young boys out of the cave and towards the kitchens.  
~~~~  
“Just because I use proper grammar-” Damian grumbled stomping along and not caring that he was going to be wearing his uniform upstairs. The rule of ‘no Bat gear or uniforms in the mansion’ seemed like the last thing he was going to worry about and Alfred didn’t seem to mind at the moment. He hated to admit it but he was seriously hungry too. Pennyworth may not truly be able to solve everything with his famous ‘Food, Shower, and Sleep Combo’ but it sure sounded good at the moment. 

Damian took a seat at the island in the large kitchen and watched the gentleman work in silence. It wasn’t the largest kitchen in the house and in fact it wasn’t even meant for the main house members. It was typically used as a servants kitchen in the older days but the old man prefered it over the larger less personal ones that were meant to cook for 10 or more at a time. The island served as a table to eat on, as there was plenty of counter space to cook on. Damian actually like this kitchen. It felt personal and ‘homey’ as Grayson had put it and Damian was hard pressed to find anything he didn’t like about it.  
~~~~  
Alfred set out a plate of fruit and set about making a hearty stir fry and rice. Dick at this age would be partial to Alfred’s pizza but this would be more filling and Alfred wanted the rare opportunity to watch one of the young men find new favorite foods. Their expressions when tasting such dishes for the first time were moments Alfred cherished. But of course Alfred made sure to include all of Dick’s favorites, tossing in a cupful of edamame beans and shrimp for Damian and quickly whisking a few eggs up and pouring it over the whole thing to scramble and mix in with everything for added protein. The brown rice (healthier than white rice) was cooking away in the rice cooker and alfred thawed a pan of brownies from the freezer in the oven for a dessert, planning to serve it warmed with scoops of vanilla ice cream and Nilla wafers as Dick preferred. Damian would have strawberries instead of the cookies and mint ice cream instead of vanilla.

At seeing Alfred duck down to where he kept the pots and pans and NOT come up with the round pizza tray Dick balked, “No pizza Alfred?” but the man had shushed him good naturedly and asked for his trust. Dick of course trusted Alfred so he popped another blackberry in his mouth and tried not to fill up too much on fruit. The pan Alfred brought out was a weird mix of a pan and a bowl. It was rounded and deep but clearly made for cooking over a stove. Alfred set the rice cooker and started chopping up two chicken breasts and loads of veggies tossing them in to the bowl-pot-pan. Then he was grabbing containers of this or that and putting them in too. It seemed very useful for cooking loads of small things at once because you could use the higher sides to do that flip trick with the pan to get stuff to mix and it wouldn’t fall out. It smelled amazing especially after Alfred added the sauce and spices and then MORE so when he cracked a few eggs over it. Dick whined over a grape when he saw the tray of brownies go into the oven but looking at the clock he noted that Alfred wasn’t adding in anything else and was just reaching for the plates so cooking time was nearly over. If he’d gotten pizza as he’d asked for, he’d still be waiting. Alfred spooned out rice, added the meat, egg and veggie combo, and poured them both glasses of water. Dick inhaled, it smelled good, after a quick prayer, thanking God for making Alfred, Dick took his first spoonful.

It is notable to say that expressions of true joyous rapture at eating stir fry for the first time are JUST as fulfilling to watch the second time.  
~~~~  
Damian watched with a raised eyebrow starting the moment after he’d questioned Alfred’s food choice. He had NEVER seen ANYONE question Alfred on food. It was an odd sight to see and got odder still as it looked like he was praying. 

At this point Damian was more interested in watching Grayson than eating his own food or even Alfred. When the young boy took a bite and a look of amazement crossed his face Damian couldn’t keep his mouth shut. “Have you never had Alfred’s Stir Fry? And did you just pray?” Though the question’s rolled from his mouth he was mostly busy memorizing the look on the boys face. It was a good look. Happy and excited. The best look on him by far. Damian could even see the same look on his older face and it was amazing how little different they were. In fact the older version looked more like his younger self when he had that look.  
~~~~  
“Stir fry.” Dick murmured in rapture. “Nope. First time. First of MANY; Alfred you are SO awesome.” Dick took another spoonful and could have wept for joy so great he might have forgotten Damian’s second question. “Yeah, I gave thanks.” Dick said after swallowing his food. It was habit from his days at the circus, his family and his extended family all prayed in thanks for the blessings they were given. It reminded him if the family he lost, and to count his blessings now because he never knew when any or all of those blessings would be taken away. Most often Dick thanked God for Alfred, but he also gave thanks for being able to be Robin and for Batman who would (or possibly had?) get revenge for his family and bring the ones responsible to justice. That reminded Dick of some of the questions he had, and since this Damian had given him the perfect opening to mutually question one another, Dick asked, “So. Why are you wearing your own version of my Robin costume?”

Alfred winced as he tended to the tray of brownies, checking with a toothpick to see if they were properly done yet. Master Dick really knew how to go right for the meat of the issue.  
~~~~  
His eye twitched and he sighed. Looking to his own plate of Stir Fry he found no answers. He looked back to the boy and said with confidence, “Because I AM Robin. You WERE Robin. You... grew up and changed your persona.” Damian was doing his best to choose his words with care. He really wasn’t sure what else to do besides answer his questions with as much honesty as he could and still not give him too much information.  
~~~~  
Dick frowned at Damian and lasered that frown on Alfred. “How OLD am… is… Am I supposed to be at this time?” There was pain in both Alfred’s and Dick’s faces as they stared at one another. “...You recently celebrated your twenty-two birthday, Sir.”

Dick was stunned, he stared at nothing as he forced himself to eat and felt as though he should apologize to Alfred that he suddenly couldn’t taste anything. “How long have you been Robin?” Dick asked, and it pained him to know his voice sounded just as upset as he felt. He would worry Alfred and hurt Bruce. Dick was TEN and suddenly he realized that technically whatever happened to him had robbed him of half his life. That he’d been alive for his current lifetime and then over again. It was mind boggling. He didn’t even remember being anything older than ten.  
~~~~  
“A few years. You stopped being Robin a while ago, before I ever met you.” Damian said quietly. “You liked being N- ahem. Um, Your new persona. You chose to stop being Robin and become something else.” He gave a quick glance to Alfred hoping the man would give him some sort of clue if what he was saying was ok. He wondered if telling him that Dick had been the one to choose Damian to be his Robin was a good idea or not.  
~~~~  
Dick stared at Damian, fork half out of his mouth as he processed what he was being told. “So… I stopped being robin before you started it? What, was there just, NO robin after a while?” Dick frowned scooping up another forkful and wishing he could taste things again.

The whole thing was so abstract to think about. He’d become Robin to avenge his family, something they had apparently accomplished. After that Dick hadn’t really thought about what he was going to do. He was Bruce’s ward, he liked being Robin, it stood to reason he’d stay on and be Robin. The notion that he ‘grew up’ and didn’t want to be Robin anymore was… foreign. He couldn’t see that far into his future. He had apparently kept on with the hero gig, but had made his own identity. What would he take on? Again, such thoughts were so alien Dick abandoned them before he could think about it too much.

Alfred’s soul mourned for Dick, the poor boy was getting a lot of information that would be hard to take in. Damian’s glance for confirmation that he was handling the situation appropriately was one Alfred took to be a good sign. He made a deferring motion, allowing Damian to continue as he was, Alfred thought he bore good judgement. Alfred turned to check the brownies again, thinking to himself that Bruce should BE there while Dick was told all this information. His eldest boy was a coward in the strangest ways sometimes.  
~~~~  
Damian took a few brave bites of his Stir Fry as he thought about whether or not he should tell him much more. The Stir Fry was amazing though. That was good. “There were others... I... I can not tell you more than that however. This Information could be dangerous to you and that is the last thing I want.” It was then that Damian started cursing his own father as the Domestic Coward he was. Running off at a time when information was needed and his family needed him most. He made a vow to call him that to his face the next moment he surfaced. 

“You... you are happy... in our family. I hope this is a comfort to you.”  
~~~~  
Other Robins. Not just a successor, multiple successors. Other ROBINS. OTHER Robins. Dick’s brain wrestled with that and a few more bites were made and Dick was only vaguely aware he was starting to be able to taste it again. He was getting excited, OTHER ROBINS. Different kinds of Robins, if Damian’s costume was anything to go by. Dick wondered what they were like, these Robins, but Damian was reluctant to tell him, just in case he was properly sent back to his own time (if he was out of his time) they didn’t want him having compromising future knowledge. 

A bit too late for all that, in Dick’s opinion, but maybe what Damian had told him so far was innocuous compared to what he could find out if he snooped. Bruce’s supercomputer for instance probably had a backlog of every case Bruce had worked. He could learn how they got justice for his family’s deaths.

As soon as he thought that, Dick dismissed the idea. It was enough to know that the information was there. If he looked in the future, it would be like cheating, not properly earning his vengeance for his family. It wasn’t in his nature to cheat. Except in twister, but it wasn’t his fault he was always going to be the most flexible and bendy person on that mat.

“So, so I’m friends? With the other Robins?” And though Alfred hadn’t seen Dick mouth the words, he still heard Dick’s unspoken ‘with you?’ that hung in the air. The brownies were sufficiently baked, but the boys weren’t ready to eat them, so Alfred turned the oven’s temperature down to ‘warm’ in the mean time.  
~~~~  
There is was, that feeling of exasperation. Even in this young state Grayson had the ability to bring out the feeling. “Grayson, I would be hard pressed to name a being in this universe you are NOT friends with! I have not counted the amount of annoying droves you call friends but I assure you the number is high. Annoyingly so. You do not always get along with everyone of us, however, we all seem to be subjected to your hugs and bonding time just the same.” Damian leveled the boy with a serious look. “I shall not be subjected to ‘The Lion King’ not one more time, Grayson! Not one!”


	2. 2

“Shall.” Dick repeated, rolling the word in his mouth like a new slightly off taste. He was glad to hear he was on good terms with the other Robins. Former Robins? How many were there? Damian probably wouldn’t say, so Dick shoveled more food in his mouth as he tried to decide if he should tease Damian by vowing to watch it with him, or agreeing as a display of peace so he wouldn’t alienate his successor. Damian seemed easy to irritate and while his playful nature whispered how fun it would be to ruffle such pristine feathers Dick mastered the impulse somewhat. “You talk funny.” The statement was flat and a lesser man than Alfred might have snickered at it.  
~~~~  
“Speak. Speak funny.” Damian growled. “In fact I speak proper grammar. Something I have noticed you never actually learn.” Turning back to his food Damian clears a good amount of his food. Not sure where to go from here. How does he talk to a kid? He rarely speaks to kids anywhere near his age, in fact, only Colin is near his age. The Titans were far too annoying to keep constant contact with. So what did he do now?  
~~~~  
“Because grammar is going to save the world.” Dick said with an eye roll. “I’m coherent, so I don’t see why I have to speak all stuffy. I have a personality and so does the way I talk… SPEAK.” Dick noticed that he had more food on his plate than Damian, and was shocked at himself. “So.” Dick said, trying to find a subject to get the other boy talking, “What made you decide to be Robin?”  
~~~~  
“You did.” Damian answered and chose not to elaborate. “What made you decide running around in ‘scaly panties’ was a good idea? What do you have against pants? That uniform is a horror to behold.” ‘Not that the early version of the Nightwing uniform was any better.’ Damian thought grimacing at the thought of it.   
~~~~  
Dick frowned. “I’m going to let the crack about the uniform slide because you said the phrase ‘scaly panties’ and that is the silliest thing you’ve said so far.” Dick paused to eat more, marveling quietly that he liked the strange fat green beans in the stir fry just as much as he did everything else. “Alfred helped me design the costume to cater to my own range of motion, I’d tried loads of different fabrics and styles, d’you remember Alfred? There was supposed to be a kind of robin hood and page boy feel to it.”

Alfred nodded, he did remember. He also remembered Bruce pacing the room for hours after Dick was asleep lamenting that the boy seemed bound and determined to go out on the streets with nothing protecting his legs. ‘Master Bruce, it seems to be for the best, anything more and the boy is markedly slower, it is actually LESS safe to protect him more.’ Bruce hadn’t liked it, and he hadn’t said a word.  
~~~~  
“Admittedly not my phrase, that would be Todd.” Damian took a few last bites and set the plate aside. “Thank you Pennyworth.” Finished eating he turned his attention to the young boy once more. “While I understand the need for range of motion I fail to see why you simply could not use pants. They work perfectly fine. Finally, Robin Hood and a Page Boy?! I never thought I would be thankful for an assassin's uniform. Range of motion and protection without looking like a fool.” Damian raised his eyebrow and stared at Grayson. “How is it you are almost EXACTLY the same?”   
~~~~  
Dick swallowed his mouthful and held up a hand, “Okay, in order?” he lifted a finger, “Who’s Todd,” he lifted a second finger, “I’m sorry, did you say ASSASSIN?!” he lifted a third finger, “And what the heck do you mean I’m the same? The same as WHAT?”  
~~~~  
“In order then.” Holding up fingers in mockery of the younger boys actions, “Thats classified unless Father says otherwise,” Second finger. “Yes I did.” third finger, “You speak and act like your older self. I haven’t decided if it is a genetic marker or you simply have yet to actually grow up at twenty years of age. I could imagine having this discussion with you... older you.”  
~~~~  
Dick chewed his food carefully as he contemplated the boy next to him. Classy and sarcastic. Dick thought he might actually really like the combo on the boy. “Is an elaboration on that assassin bit classified too?” Everything else was easy to understand, the mention of assassins wasn’t. Dick started having to scrape the last of his food into a pile to be scooped up by his fork to finish his plate. It was nice to know he wasn’t going to lose the self he was now when he got older.  
~~~~  
Damian worried the inside of his cheek trying to decide what to say. “Yes and no. My mother is with the League of Assassins. I...I CHOSE to live my life with my father and follow his way. You suggested this is how I should do it.” For a moment he found himself counting the exits and means of escape. One of which using pressure points to put the boy to sleep if need be. 

Everything in the past few years had him realise how awful his upbringing and his mother had been. He didn’t want Grayson, even a young version of him to feel distrustful of him.   
~~~~  
Dick scraped up the last mouthful of stir fry onto his fork and into his mouth as he listened to Damian pick and choose his words like a wrong syllable would sentence him to death. Mom was an assassin, harsh, but he’d chosen this life so points in his direction. He’d chosen the life and way of his father? … Dick swallowed as he puzzled out who Damian’s father was and when it hit him Dick felt like he was choking even though his airway was clear.

“Wait a quick second!” Dick exclaimed, slamming his hands on the countertop so hard the plate between his hands jumped a little and rattled, “Are you telling me you’re Bruce’s SON?!”

Could it be TRUE? Bruce had a kid with an assassin? (there was all that tongue and cheek business with cat woman but an ASSASSIN?!) Dick didn’t want to believe it, mostly because Dick always wanted to believe that if Bruce ever had a child of his own he would love that kid the way he was denied since he was eight years old.  
~~~~  
Damian had NOT jumped. He simply placed himself in a more defendable position. 

Sighing once the thought of a threat had passed he lower his arm, “tt. That was not obvious the last several times I referred to him as Father rather than something else?” He asked more irritated at himself than anything. “Yes he is my Father. Why is this so shocking?”  
~~~~  
“Mainly the idea that that stone wall reproduced.” Dick said, getting up from his chair and walking around the kitchen on a sudden need to move, “I mean sure, he’s a ladies man, charming, the whole nine, but to let someone IN? Bruce is CAREFUL, he thinks I don’t see the signs and stuff but I know he carries around condoms at charity events and has them at his bedside table. But… He had a kid, and I don’t think your mom’s here and that says a lot. You talk like you chose between her and Bruce. And he treats you…” Dick suddenly realized how far he’d let his mouth run away with him and tried to get a handle on the verbal mess he was in. “I always hoped… if he ever had a kid, he would treat them better than he treats his sidekick.”

Alfred shared many of Dick’s sentiments as he cut squares of brownie and scooped each plate with the boy’s preferred ice cream and garnishes.  
~~~~  
Damian went from chuckling, to rolling his eyes, to studying the table top. The clink of dessert being made had him looking up and watching Pennyworth work. When he found his voice he was quiet and refused to look at the young boy who’d hit on one hurt too many.

“It wasn’t his choice to have me. He didn’t know... She made me chose. I made the right choice. I know that.”  
~~~~  
The movement was more instinct than conscious choice, but when Dick found he’d wrapped his arms around the other boy he found he couldn’t complain about his actions. This was what he needed to be doing, this was what was necessary for both himself and Damian. “Do I still blab way past what’s okay because if I do I’m SO sorry in advance.”  
~~~~  
It took a moment to unstiffen from the sudden contact but after years of getting used to being touched and held he came to enjoy such moments rather than be uncomfortable with them. Getting a hug from an older Dick Grayson was all large limbs and heavy weight, basically unavoidable and inescapable. Hugs from this Grayson was a whole other story. He was slim and small and felt more gentle that a tangled mass encasing him. It was nice but... it just wasn’t his Grayson. It wasn’t the same and it made him miss those large hugs even more, long for it. Longed for that bright confident smile that infuriated him with how easily it could comfort him. 

It was a hug, a Grayson hug, none the less. It let him know he was cared for and not judged and it was exactly what he needed.   
~~~~  
When Damian neither confirmed nor denied that he still had the bad habit of speaking past politeness Dick first wondered if this was somehow important information that shouldn’t be revealed about his character, then almost immediately after worried that he wasn’t permitted to touch this grown up kid. He wasn’t being told to get away or to stop hugging, he wasn’t being physically removed either, so Dick thought his actions were alright. In this way Dick found Damian to be much like his father, Bruce hadn’t been accustomed to the chatty, touchy-feely behavior that was Dick’s natural state, and had done his own share of stiff acceptance of hugs in long awkward silence.

Bruce had been … more open then. Now it seemed that he was closed off, colder even, if such a frightening thought could be borne. Bruce seemed to be much more Batman than Bruce Wayne even outside the cowl these days, a trait that worried Dick. 

Alfred counted the seconds as they accumulated into minutes and when two minutes was starting to edge towards three and neither boy had moved nor spoken he took up the dessert plates and set them where the dinner plates he’d collected had been. There was a light noise of the ceramic hitting the marble countertop. Dick’s penchant for ‘hugs cure everything’ had been as stalwart as Bruce’s resolve to the mission, especially in his younger, more innocent years. Dick might hug Damian until they both passed out if he felt that Damian still needed to be hugged and wasn’t removed by word or action. Such behavior honestly didn’t surprise Alfred in the slightest, it was DAMIAN’S actions, or rather, inactions that caused an eyebrow (more salt than pepper these days) to be raised up into a high forehead. Damian allowed the contact and didn’t even bother with the pretense of resigned acceptance. Alfred took it to be a good sign but the brownies were melting the ice cream, giving both of them an easy out to break the hug without it being awkward or hurtful.  
~~~~  
When it became apparent the younger Grayson was just as stubborn as the older one with his hugs, Damian hesitantly raised his arms and gently returned the hug. It felt strange how new and old the action felt. The man would always hold him till one of two things happened, the hug was returned or he was stabbed. In the early days the older man was stabbed often, until Damian learned it was not something meant to hurt and belittle him and it was easier to hug back than to fight it. 

Damian loved hugs, he did. It was just hard to let people close after so many years of seeing it as a threat. It took a LOT of getting used to, letting his guard down enough to accept and even enjoy it. Damian saw the dessert set in front of them and debated if he should use the out or not. Older Grayson knew what he was like and understood him. This younger version did not know him. Would he see Damian taking the out in a negative way? This whole thing was uncharted territory to him and failure was not an option. After another moment he cleared his throat hoping that would be sufficient enough of an indication that he was ok.   
~~~~  
Dick had been staring at his brownie longingly, at the throat clearing he pulled away to acertain Damian’s mood. Dick found him looking much better, which was what he’d been aiming for so Dick moved back to his seat and praised Alfred silently before tucking in to the still warm brownie, biting a half soggy nilla wafer of it’s soaked portion and loving every moment.

There was really nothing more to be done for the evening, other than cleaning up and getting ready for bed. Master Damian would need to remove his costume, something he was more than likely to do in his quarters. Dick’s bedroom would need to be freshened up, so Alfred moved out of the kitchen to take care of that and leave the two Robins to talk in privacy. Some of Master Richard’s posters would temporarily need to be taken down, and the naughty magazine in the mattress would need to be removed as well. Imagine, the first boy wonder thinking he could hide a lewd magazine in Alfred’s home. But Dick had obviously forgotten about this one, and likely his grown self didn’t remember squirreling it away as he had. Still, Young Master Richard was far too young to be accidentally coming across such things.   
~~~~  
Damian glared at the old mans back as he left... left Damian alone with... younger Dick Grayson. Turning to his own dessert he ate quietly watching the young boy out of his peripheral vision. He really had no clue what to say or how to act. He did not get along with any of the many children in his school, in fact Colin was the only person his age he did get along with. 

The dessert was good but he didn’t really seem very hungry for sweets at the moment. After a few bites he set the spoon in the dish and glared at it in contemplation and worry. What would happen? What should he do?  
~~~~  
It was only a good thing that Alfred had kept some of Damian’s old clothes, they would fit Master Richard well until he could give the boy a proper fitting. If Alfred remembered correctly Dick preferred to sleep in an old shirt of his father’s, said shirt was likely worn to the threads and in Dick’s bludhaven apartment and thus unavailable. Perhaps one of Master Bruce’s might do in this pinch? Alfred thought about it, and set aside one of Dick’s current sleep shirts, just to see if it might make a better substitute. It possibly would smell more like his family. The Room was aired, the sheets were clean, the sheets turned down, … A toothbrush!

Dick dug into his brownie and all but moaned the warm chocolate assaulting his tongue. About three fourths of the way through his brownie, Dick noticed that Damian wasn’t eating his dessert anymore and slowed down, “You full?” Dick asked, the thought of not being in the mood for dessert not even occurring to him. It wasn’t in his nature, especially at the age of ten.  
~~~~  
“I do not usually eat sweets on this scale. I am not... as you would say ‘in the mood’ for such things.” He said watching his ice cream melt and wondered if he should just put the whole thing in the freezer or the trash. “You may have mine if you wish.” He scooted the bowl over a bit.   
~~~~  
Dick looked at the mostly intact brownie and scoop of icecream, Mint was awesome too, and it might make the brownie taste a bit like that one girl scout cookie. He could finish his dessert with no problem, that was the way Alfred had made the servings, but to eat his own slice and Damian’s picked at one? He knew his stomach wouldn’t fit it.

Dick’s face spread wide in a pleased grin, “Thanks!” Had he known the modern idiom Dick might have even followed that up with a loving “Challenge accepted!” Which may or may not only confuse Damian in the first place. But Alfred had known what he was doing when he’d deliberately given the two boys equal servings of dessert, knowing full well that Damian didn’t care for sweet things in the way Dick so obviously did. Dick kept shooting Damian pleased glances as he made his way through his own dessert as Alfred noticed when he returned to the kitchen. Once he was halfway through with the second, Alfred took the plate away, knowing better than Dick how much his stomach had shrunk. “And now for the evening routine. I have other things to attend to, Master Damian, will you be so kind as to show young master Richard to his rooms? They are ready for him.”  
~~~~  
Straightening he nodded and stood from his chair. “Follow me.” Was all he said in Grayson’s direction. The worry and hard work of the night were starting to weigh in him. He was ready for a long hot shower. He liked hot showers, they soothed his muscles and gave him time to think in a relaxed state. Shower then sleep sounded wonderful. Maybe this all would resolve itself in the morning. He really did not believe they were that lucky.

He led the way past the living room, sitting room, breakfast room though Damian was not sure why they still called it that if no one ever ate breakfast there, and the room the older Grayson liked to lay in the floor in. Alfred had told him once that when Grayson was younger he used to do flips and tumbles in the large room in the mid mornings because the sun warmed the room and the floor. Grayson had said once it was one of the most cheerful rooms in the gloomy old house and that’s why he liked it. Damian liked the room well enough and laying on the floor in silence was nice. Ridiculous to anyone who asked but nice. He wondered what his younger self would do in the morning as he headed up the stairs and to the left.   
~~~~  
The area of the house was familiar. Was he getting his old room? Dick’s idle wonderings were confirmed as he found his room, much as he left it, a detail here and there missing. Where were the pictures of his family? Oh, on that dresser, not the bedside table. There was a large shirt laid out on the bed, not one he immediately recognized to be his father’s, but a plain blue V-neck that looked well loved. Alfred had remembered his preference for sleepwear, a detail the slightly cold old man with magicians hand’s with food would never have bothered with.

“When did Alfred change?” Dick asked, letting his fingertips trail over the soft blue fabric. “When I’m from, he never seemed to like me much. Bruce had said that Alfred wasn’t good with change or kids.”  
~~~~  
“Must have been with you.” Damian said confused staying in the doorway. “I thought it was only me he didn’t care for.” It was strange but somehow he was feeling more at ease with this version of Dick Grayson. The more he talked the more he seemed like himself just... different, younger. The strangeness of it was starting to wear off and his panic wearing away to just worry, worry for Grayson’s sake. 

“He adores you. Everyone does. You and him...” Damian shrugged feeling self conscious. “You’re... sacred.” It was the best way he could describe it. Everyone knew you did not mess with Grayson or Pennyworth or the family as a whole would come down on you. Damian had learned this lesson. Damian knew the older man did not outright dislike him as he had at first and may even have come to care for him just as Damian cared for Pennyworth. Damian just had trouble expressing his affection.   
~~~~  
“Hmmmn, ‘Never asked to be sacred.” Dick mumbled, but as soon as the words were out of his mouth he knew that wasn’t exactly true. He didn’t want to be sacred per se, but he had wanted to be… worthy? Even back at the circus he’d wanted to be worthy of the grand finale, in his own time he wanted to be worthy of getting them justice, of being Robin, this persona he’d created. Knowing that he, at minimum, achieved this, Dick smiled idly.  
~~~~  
“-tt- Then maybe you shouldn’t be so damned perfect all the time.” He huffed. “Good night Grayson.” Damian tried to sound nicer than he had all night but it was difficult. “My room is at the opposite end of the hall should you require anything.”  
~~~~  
Dick turned to look at the other boy, “Don’t call me that.” It was out of his mouth before he could think, “You call him that, the person I grow into. Stop it. I don’t know what it is, good or bad about him but it makes you sound sad to call me Grayson. Can’t you use my first name?”  
~~~~  
Damian struggled with the request, wanted to explain and was afraid to at the same time. “I-if you insist. I shall do my best to remember.” He forced out the answer like he was having teeth pulled. He’d wanted to save it. Save that name for... when he was older and worthy of it. Of saying it and having it really mean something. Mean how much he cared. First names were not just for anyone in his eyes and the eyes of his past people. You didn’t just used a first name. But it was still him, younger but him none the less. Maybe he could get away with saying it and meaning it.   
~~~~  
Dick almost took the words back, Damian looked like he’d swallowed a live centipede. It didn’t change his feelings however, he didn’t want to be part of whatever was that strain in Damian’s voice when he said ‘Grayson.’ “Are… Are you okay? I mean, it’s not like that’s the ONLY thing you can call me. My full name’s Richard, well duh, you would know that… I don’t really like Richard, but Alfred calls me that and it’s not so bad, but …” Dick bit his lip, “Do you know why your alias is ‘Robin?’ It’s ‘cause of my mom. She’d call me Robin and it was the best thing ever. I chose Robin because I started this FOR the memory of my parents. It might be weird for you, ‘cause Robin’s just an alias to you… But being called Robin? I’ve always loved it too.”

Dick paused, realizing he’d babbled again, “Sorry! You probably know that story too… Um, what I meant by it was, uh, if my first name is no good? You can always call me Robin.” Dick blinked, “Or Richard, but man, that sounds so stuffy.”  
~~~~  
The longer he listened to the boy’s verbal onslaught the better he felt. ‘A little explanation wouldn’t hurt.’ 

“I do know that story. I’ll tell you one of my own. In my home country a person’s name is special. You don’t call people by their first names without good reason to and to be given the privilege is something... important. When I came to this house I did not, for any reason, misuse a person’s name by using their first name. I was given permission years ago but... Its difficult to explain. I wanted to... to say his name and know he knew what that meant. I would prefer to call you Richard if that is alright.” Damian hoped the young boy understood what he’d said. Most kids their age did not understand at all.   
~~~~  
‘This is like school all over again.’ Dick thought, but Damian treating first names as special was something Dick thought was … well kind of cute. And that was actually the word for it, Cute. There was no word that fit better, Damian’s name specialness was foreign and so proper and posh and all that propriety coming from a boy just a little older than he was? Totally cute. What was even cuter was Damian didn’t want to call Dick by his prefered name until he was self determined ‘worthy’ of it. But the name specialness brought up a question in Dick’s mind, “So, wait. Should I call you Wayne? I don’t want to be rude or something if it’s your custom not to use first names.” This boy was his only peer while he was out of his own time, he didn’t want to be left alone in this big house again with a now all grumpy Bruce.  
~~~~  
Damian was surprised by just how amusing that sounded coming from him of all people. “No. Damian is fine just... Don’t call me Dami and we shall get along fine.” ‘I won’t have the urge to stab someone.’

‘You really need to reign in that violent urge, Dami’ Dick had laughed after barely dodging a knife to his head. 

‘Then stop butchering my name!’ He’d shouted.

‘I’m not.’ The man chuckled. ‘In this country its called a ‘nickname’. We only give it to people we care about.’ 

‘-tt-’ He was not blushing at all, ‘shut up Drake!’ He yelled to the teen smiling at the computer. Even if he hadn’t said anything he was thinking it.  
~~~~  
“Aww! But it’s a PERFECT nickname!” Dick protested, suddenly abjectly dismayed. Dick cut off what would have doubtless been a childish tirade when he remembered that for Damian first names were special. Nicknames then… would be rude? Pouting and knowing full well how far out his bottom lip jutted, Dick mumbled, “Fine.” He’d gotten Damian to stop calling him what he called his grown up self, he could at least try not to call Damian by a nickname. Name specialness was totally a thing, and it was a thing that was actually really cute so Dick guessed he could do his best if Damian did. “If you call me Grayson, do I get to call you Dami?” He was bargaining, and it was probably not the most polite thing he could be doing… His mother likely would have given him a swift swat to the back of the head for lack of manners, but Damian was a strange grown up kid, so maybe he could get Damian to agree to this. Though if Damian did or didn’t Dick didn’t know if that indicated maturity or childishness either way. ‘Growing up is strange to begin with, how do you do it so quick you’re still a kid?’  
~~~~  
Damian’s hand gripped the door frame as he reigned in the urge to yell or be nasty. Emotions were stupid and annoying. He was being more childish than Grayson at the moment. He wanted to so no, that that was Grayson’s nickname for him but It really wasn’t true anymore. Todd and even Drake had started using it so it would be ridiculous not to let the younger Grayson use it. Damian was coming to want a hard surface to bang his head against. This was all confusing and driving him insane. 

“I suppose that would be fair.” He sighed. He was going to Kill Pennyworth and his Father for leaving him alone like this. What on earth make them think this was a good idea? He wasn’t even left with the Titans unsupervised and they were older.   
~~~~  
Dick studied Damian’s face as he went tense with anger, pure and innocent, then bit and fought it down to that tired tolerance that Dick had gotten used to seeing on his face. Suddenly it was like the skies cleared, heaven opened and God himself touched Dick on the brow and bestowed infinite knowledge. Oh. That was how you did it. Damian wasn’t a grown up in a kid’s body, he was still a kid. He just never let himself be one. That was… that was quite simply WRONG, but this wasn’t the moment to get up in arms about it. Dick’s mouth opened in a yawn which he hurried to cover with a hand, seeming to punctuate the idea that such an issue could wait until after blessed sleep. “Okay, Night Damian, and thanks for everything.”  
~~~~  
“Good night!” Damian said almost beyond relieved. He walked to his own room mind racing all the way ‘Please let it be a spell, please let it be a spell and wear off by morning! I can NOT stab children! I need a shower.’ 

One long hot shower and a few annoyed remarks to Tidus later and he was fast asleep with the dog using the bottom portion of his bed to rest on and Alfred the cat laying on top of the fireplace mantle.


	3. Chapter 3

Dick was up just a few hours after sunrise. The blue shirt he wore was just as good as any of his father’s old shirts, and had him out like a light, whose was it, he wondered vaguely as he moved through his morning routine of washing his face, putting on workout gear and moving to his favorite room. By that time of the morning the floor was wonderfully warmed by the sun and Dick went though what could be considered a light morning workout. It was early, 10 in the morning, an awful and heinous sin to wake a bat at this hour, though it hadn’t stopped Dick before. Dick was more or less sure that the rule applied to son’s of Bats too, still, Dick couldn’t school the impulse to peek into Damian’s bedroom.

The bed wasn’t visible from the opening of the door, ‘Duh, Assassin’s instincts.” Dick thought, opening the door wider and peeking around the door. The room was Dark and Damian was sleeping. ‘Some assassin’s instincts.’ Dick thought idly. Shouldn’t Damian like… Instantly wake up and hurl knives at him or something? Why wasn’t the door boobytrapped? ‘He said to come in if I needed anything, why would he trap the door?’ Dick berated himself. ‘I don’t feel like seeing if he’ll ACTUALLY chuck shuriken at me or something.’ Dick decided, and shut the door silently, deciding to have breakfast. He’d bug Damian after breakfast.

When would he see Bruce again? Had the man gotten sleep or had he slogged through the night? ‘What if he’s been working on that thing that changed me all night? I’d feel awful.’ “Alfred will know.” Dick assured himself, and moved to the kitchen Alfred had served him dinner in before.  
~~~~  
At some unholy hour of the morning his door creaked open. Instinct had him laying still ready for attack for a second till Tidus’s tail wagged on the bed. ‘Grayson then’. He thought and drifted back to sleep without a second thought. Tidus was a great indicator as to who was entering his room. He wagged his tail for Grayson, whimpered for attention from Drake, groaned at Todd, slightly growled at his father, and jumped off of the bed for Pennyworth. For as cowardly and useless as the dog was he made a great early warning sleep system and that was fine by him. Sighing inwardly he got up.

Bruce swept through the kitchen in a sweaty workout shirt and shorts grabbing a cinnamon muffin and taking a bite before stopping mid-chew. There was Dick. Little, slim, and bright as sunshine bounding into the kitchen. Well his hopes were dashed... but really he already knew that. It was hard to miss the pitter patter of excited feet in the manor when everyone naturally walked so damn silently. “Morning.” That sounded gruffer than he’d meant.   
~~~~  
Dick blinked; sure he was hallucinating. Bruce… was AWAKE. “It’s your sleeping time!” Dick blurted accusingly but even to his ears it sounded comical. Please let Bruce have gotten sleep, please?

“On the contrary Master Richard, if Master Bruce has not yet gone to sleep, it is not therefore too early for him to be awake.” Alfred said acidly, setting a plate of french toast, bacon, sausage, a loaded omelet down next to a small bowl of oatmeal, and a small plate with a sliced apple and small dipping cups of peanut butter and something that looked like chocolate which Dick would later learn about something called Nutella. It was set in front of a table setting with both a glass of milk and orange juice. Well that was just fighting DIRTY, it smelled like literal heaven.

“You left your Robin to work ALL night?” Dick asked, looking at this extremely tired Bruce. Questions burned in his gut, questions it was far too early to be asking a Bruce who hadn’t slept, even if his face screamed them for him. ‘You don’t take your Robin with you to learn how to fight crime and solve mysteries anymore?’ Dick tilted his head up into the face of the man he was learning to trust with his life. ‘You stuck your SON on babysitting duty and went off on your own. Is that what Robin is now?’ The question he asked was at the very least, much less volatile, “Is that all you’ve eaten?” Dick looked at his hefty table setting, then to the muffin in Bruce’s hand.  
~~~~  
Despite trying to hold back his reactions an amused smile broke onto his face. It felt like he was the one thrown into the past. “So far, yes.” He took another bite out of his muffin. For him it was more a midnight snack than a meal. Breakfast for him wasn’t for another few hours and sleep should come somewhere in there now that he had a good amount of answers he’d needed. 

“I don’t need a distracted Robin in the field. He was better off here.” ‘Watching over you and assuring himself you were ok.’ Bruce thought. He was well aware how close Damian was to Dick and how upsetting the situation could be for him. Damian was closer to Dick than anyone else in the family and having him verbally assaulting the people who had answers wasn’t an option. “Once Damian is up-”

The door flew open to a giant dog with a cat riding its back bounding for the food bowls. The door almost swung shut but was pushed open gently by a rather disgruntled and tired Damian. This was way too early for him.   
~~~~  
Dick had several things he wanted to talk to Bruce about, that darkness that had seemed to settle in his soul for one, but he didn’t think that in front of his sleep deprived son was the moment to do it. Dick wordlessly plucked the orange juice from his table setting and handed it to Damian, the young man(boy?) looked like a zombie.

‘I don’t need a distracted Robin.’ Well. If there was one sentence that cut deep. His son wasn’t better off with his father, learning from his father? Had Bruce ‘needed’ a Robin like him? Right at the moment Dick was feeling his age. He was feeling just barely ten years old, really, he felt more nine years old and like the world was jerked out from under him again. Dick wanted to find words he was still too young to use, not too young to have heard, and scream them all like some magic spell to make him not feel so suddenly powerless and young and useless. HE was Robin. HE was always joking around, light hearted, cracking jokes, doing midair flips, keeping the night and it’s protector from getting too serious. Had Bruce not needed a distracted Robin back then as well?

Suddenly unsure how to talk or look at Bruce, Dick sat down to his food. He could still smell it, thank god, it was practically sacrilege to not pay proper homage to Alfred’s cooking and appreciate it when you were eating it. Putting his hands together and thanking god for Alfred and asking to keep borrowing him from heaven, Dick started to eat breakfast.  
~~~~  
Damian took the glass with a mumbled thanks. He stared at it for a moment lost in his own thoughts till he turned to his father with a pointed look. “I hope you have something of use?” Yeah he was annoyed. Get stuck babysitting and answering questions that were meant for Bruce? Annoyed was being nice.

“Zatanna and Dr.Fate confirmed it was not magic and Clark confirmed it was not Alien.” Bruce started. 

“Thats ALL you’ve got?” Damian growled but quickly shut up at the look Bruce leveled him with.

“Its actually an invention from Star labs which is why I didn’t have more information on it. Contacting Oliver Queen gave me the details on it. Its meant as a time machine for objects. Uranium for example, Take a used worthless hunk of it sent it back into its own past and use it again. Renewable resources was the goal in mind. It however, hasn’t been thoroughly tested and was never meant for humans.” 

“Think if grandfather got his hands on this!” another growl of annoyance at the thoughtlessness of some people before Damian finally started drinking his offered orange juice.  
~~~~  
“Grandfather?” Dick questioned, and regretted the word before it was finished coming out of his mouth, “Wait, they never KNEW it would work on me? But that means-” Dick cut himself off, his voice was going to break and he didn’t feel like doing that in front of this hard Bruce. Besides, that information actually meant a lot of things, it was better that Bruce just give out the information he’d gathered, so Dick shoved a spoonful of oatmeal into his mouth to shut himself up. Alfred set down Damian’s own plate, which Dick noticed that while it still looked like breakfast, it looked like breakfast right out of Aladdin. It was … very middle eastern, which was probably where Damian lived with his mother and… grandfather? Dick noticed that Damian was also served ...coffee?

“Oh, that is not FAIR!” Dick said and he didn’t bother with keeping the whine out of his voice, “He gets coffee and I get milk and orange juice?” And indeed there was again, a glass of orange juice standing next to his glass of milk. “How come I don’t rate? I keep the same hours!”  
~~~~  
“Here. Pennyworth another please.” Damian rolled his eyes and slid over his cup of coffee along with the sugar and creamer in front of his father who looked horribly torn between saying something and keeping quiet. The man pressed his lips together tightly and looked for, all he was worth, like he was about to see a great disaster.   
Damian ignored it assuming it has something to do with Grayson and his ‘adorableness factor’ or some such nonsense. “I’m assuming you procured the specs for this device. Is it repairable?”

“I’m certainly going to try.” Bruce said watching Dick carefully for what he was sure would be a glorious moment to relive.   
~~~~  
Dick looked at Damian’s mug of coffee, black as his hair and glanced at his own. This close it smelled like mornings back at the circus, so many of his favorite old faces all scrunched up and miserable until they had a mug of this in hand. It smelled different, yet familiar more than it smelled good. Dick JUST bet that Damian drank his coffee black, and again he found himself thinking of the two camps of coffee drinkers he’d encountered in his life, the cream and sugar camp and the black coffee camp, each thinking the other side absolutely crazy for drinking this beverage they way they did. Dick reached for the cream, then stopped himself. He should at least TRY it without right?

So he lifted the mug to his lips, blew gently and took perhaps a bigger drink than he might have prefered.

To Alfred it was like watching a home movie, the way Dick’s face contorted like he’d just swallowed a live bug, the hasty setting down of the coffee mug and the reaching for the cream and sugar as Dick tried for the second time, better armed against the TASTE he was so unused to. It would be several years before Dick would succumb to the bitter drink as most adults did. After adding perhaps more sugar than might be advisable, Dick took a second drink, pulled the face he always did when he had to take medicine by mouth, and set down the coffee mug a final time, where Alfred collected it without a word. The knowing smile he had on his face said plenty. “How can you DRINK THAT!?” Dick asked incredulously, pointing to Damian’s black filled cup. Dick was already reaching for his milk to attempt to wash the taste out of his mouth.  
~~~~  
Damian had to put down his coffee or chance spitting it all over the place. The look on the young boys face was priceless and Damian even struggled not to outright laugh.. “How did you not know you don’t like coffee?”

Bruce was even doing his level best not to laugh too hard, even if he let a good amount of chuckling pass. It was that magic moment all over again. Such innocence and stubborn need to be treated like a partner even though he really was a kid. Bruce accepted a fresh cup of black coffee from Alfred. “Its an acquired taste. You’ll like it when you’re older.”

“No he just drowns it in sugar or drinks those packets of cappuccino and adds an espresso shot to it.” Damian replied drinking his own cup of black coffee. He always drank the first one black for the wake up call and the second one with slightly less sugar than Grayson.   
~~~~  
Dick made a face as Damian and Bruce began sipping their black coffee like he was witnessing the high speed decomposition of a corpse, smells and all. Dick turned to his breakfast and dived into the safety of good tasty food. No coffee. No acquired tastes, no thanks. Everyone was getting a kick out of his reactions and it was reddening his cheeks with embarrassment. they were at least magnanimous enough to not SAY anything about it other to explain answers he hadn’t asked the questions to. Yet.

“As to the device, Master Bruce?” Alfred prompted, and Dick praised God again for loaning their family his best angel. “Did you learn anything else?”  
~~~~  
“Its not going to be an easy fix.” Bruce sighed. “I have Cyborg and Static helping me with putting it back together while we reverse the polarity so it will hopefully fix Dick. The speedsters are working on running extensive tests to the prototype to figure out exactly how it works. We’ll know more soon.”

Damian ate silently as he listened, satisfied that everyone was doing their best to fix this mess. The situation felt a lot less dire now and he felt he could breathe a little better.  
~~~~  
“Who’s Static?” Dick asked, “Someone new obviously.” Dick was most of the way through his omelette and part of the way through his oatmeal but he still felt like he could taste the coffee. Dick moved to add maple syrup to his french toast and attacked those as well. Dick looked at his partner, “You’re leaving stuff out. Is it because I’m in the room, or Damian?”

Dick winced, he HATED that he would just BLURT out these things. He couldn’t really help himself, he was just observant when he wasn’t paying attention. Alfred moved to the now whistling kettle pouring a cup of soothing tea that would help Bruce sleep, if only the man would drink it.  
~~~~  
Damian knew the hardening mask look that passed over his face. It meant ‘this conversation is over’. Damian grabbed his french toast and coffee and headed for the living room, if he was lucky Alfred might bring him the rest later. If not it was no big deal. There was no point in staying in the kitchen and Scooby-Doo was on. Which was a much more productive use of his time then staring at his father oozing disapproval. The last thing he heard was Bruce saying they’d know more when the test results came back. 

Bruce watched his son exit stage left like he was on fire and wanted to sigh. He accepted the tea from Alfred, he was going to need it. “Thank you Alfred. Dick, stay IN the manor and OUT of the cave. Thats an order.” With that Bruce left without another glance at Dick. he just couldn’t bare the look of hurt he knew would be there.


	4. Chapter 4

Dick pushed away from his food so fast his chair toppled, “LIKE HELL. Like HELL this is what Robin is supposed to be. YOUR SON just exited stage LEFT because I called you out on keeping something from the room. You didn’t even answer, you just gave, ‘I’m the Batman Glare’ and I’m supposed to what? NOT care that there’s something you’re not telling your PARTNER about something that COMPLETELY has to do with ME? Robin is supposed to be your PARTNER, not your SIDEKICK.” Dick was thrumming with rage at Bruce’s back. The man WOULD NOT turn around. “FINE. Fine!” Dick took off running past Bruce turning into the hallways and staircases and trying to reach Bruce’s door before the man. He would, Bruce would walk in shame, and Dick would be waiting.  
~~~~  
Dick was right there, in his room as he expected. He sighed. “There IS a lot I’m not telling you. Dick...” He sighed again and shut the door behind him. He took a seat on the bed knowing Dick would follow. “I can’t know if you’re going to remember everything or not. Until the tests are back, I don’t know if you’re from the past or just deaged in this time. If you’re from the past, KNOWING things is DANGEROUS. Robin IS my partner, but he’s also my son with a complicated past that I can’t tell you about till I know more.” 

He still wasn't saying everything but how could he? How could he tell Dick and not worry him or freak him out. He’d always been more open with Dick and Jason than anyone else and how could he explain why? He couldn’t.  
~~~~  
Dick all but climbed onto the large bed, moving so he knelt next to Bruce and wrapped his arms around Bruce’s neck. “Why is it that you’re older but somehow you seem younger?” Dick asked, mumbling near Bruce’s ear, “I remember you as being so cool, put together, full of answers. You’re so scared now. Scared of what you know and what you don’t know so you shut out anything and everything you don’t have an iron grip on.” Dick laughed once, “Am I making any sense?”  
~~~~  
“A little too much.” He chuckled wrapping his arms around his partner. “I have good reason be be this way Dick. I can’t always save everyone. I thought I could always keep the people I care about safe. If I was prepared enough I could work through anything.” Bruce sighed and hugged Dick tighter. “I... I don’t want to lose you. I can’t handle that. I just can’t.”   
~~~~  
“Then you won’t.” Dick said and even he could hear the childlike belief in magic that it sounded like. “You won’t because you’ll test anything up and down the driveway and back again before you’d let it near me.” Dick thought the analogy was good, the driveway to Wayne Manor was RIDICULOUSLY long. “You won’t lose me because you trained me up so good I grew up and became a great crime fighter, just like you. Even if you can’t get him back, we all know that I have it in me, so… So I’m not going to tell you NOT to worry about losing me, it’s what keeps you so sharp. But… but there’s worry, and worry is worry and fear is fear. Bruce, you don’t NEED to be afraid for me. You’ve got me.”  
~~~~  
“I know.” It was true he would test that damn thing to high hell and be totally sure of the result before he let it NEAR Dick. However, testing could only go so far. Science could only do so much. There was just such a high chance he couldn’t save him and it was killing him. 

“I’m going to worry anyway. I just wish I could be as sure as you are.”  
~~~~  
“Bruce.” Dick laughed and moved his arms to hug around Bruce’s broad chest, “Bruce you old goof, I’m so sure because I have one thing you just… Don’t anymore. FAITH in you.”  
~~~~  
Bruce’s chest felt tight and he hugged Dick closer. “Thank you.” He really didn’t feel like he deserved such faith but there it was. Dick Grayson in all his undying belief in him. It had been so long since he’d truly had that. That kind of faith only a child has.   
~~~~  
Dick found a peace like no other in the act of hugging and being hugged. He honestly couldn’t understand how someone got uncomfortable or awkward when hugging for a period of time. Dick settled into a sort of nirvana of hugging, content just to stay like this until Bruce felt better or was ready to sleep, whichever came first.  
~~~~  
Bruce took several minutes to enjoy the hug. Things were just so complicated with Dick as an adult that moments like there were amazingly rare. He started to feel the tug of sleep at his mind after a moment more and pulled back a bit. “I need to get some rest. Why don’t you send some time with Damian. Try to teach him how to play. Its not something he’s had the opportunity to do... or learn. Its a big mission.”  
~~~~  
“If you think,” Dick said, pulling away to glare playfully at Bruce, “For one SECOND that just because you tacked on the word mission to the idea of teaching that utter MANCHILD how to play is going to fool me for an instant you’re dead wrong.” Dick released Bruce gently to sit next to him, “But thanks for the great idea on how to kill the boredom.”  
~~~~  
“Its actually an official mission you’ve been working on for over a year.” Bruce grinned. “Its in the bat computer and everything. Logs, dates... many failed attempts. However you have an edge at the moment. You’re younger than him. He’s more willing to listen to you than try to convince you to ‘act like the adult you supposedly are’. You did get him into video games and cartoons but thats the extent of your success. You’re a child to him. Meaning he won’t be mean, hurt you, or insult you... as much. Good luck.”   
~~~~  
Dick thought about what Bruce had said, finding comfort in the idea that his future self was still the kind of man who would take the time to make an actual mission for teaching Damian to play. “He doesn’t know anything about doing stuff just because it’s fun, does he?”  
~~~~  
It was sad how right Dick was and still not know just how bad it had been for Damian. “No. He doesn’t. I listened to your conversations last night... well this morning actually.” Bruce sighed feeling the weight of it all. “He wasn’t raised to be a child, Dick. He was raised to be an assassin by his mother. A trained from birth killer and still he chose this life. He may not know how to play but I’m sure he wants that freedom.”  
~~~~  
And yet you couldn’t find the backbone to stay in the room with us you cowardly little MANCHILD yourself, god SAVE you Bruce--

“Yeah, the mom thing, with the grandfather and the training a kid to be an assassin thing.”Dick thought he had a guess about what Damian’s family on his mother’s side was but, “I don’t get to know the details of that so it’s pointless to ask you to confirm my theories.” Dick nodded, “So it’s also irrelevant to think about. First step’s laughter. Or, maybe sleep, Damian barely had ANY.”  
~~~~  
“He used to be up earlier than Alfred.” Bruce chuckled. “He swore he was going to wake him up one day and you swore you were going to teach him the art of sleeping. Yet the dog is the one to beat you both. I can tell you he won't just sleep... or do anything for that matter, just because you say so. He’ll just out logic you or claim superiority. Convince in him in a way that doesn’t really push or allude to what you really want or sometimes asking works too I guess. Though don't be disappointed if he just flat out refuses for whatever reason.” Scooting back on the bed Bruce pulled back the covers, he was beyond tired. “Good night.”  
~~~~  
“Sleep soundly.” Dick murmured, pulling the sheets up for Bruce in an instinctual mimic of what his mother would always do for him. Bruce probably would sleep soundly, when he was this physically exhausted he tended to. At the same time Dick remembered the running after sounds of screaming, throwing the doors open and hoping they bang loud enough to wake Bruce before he dares to get on the bed. A frightened sleeping Bruce has the skills and power to easily be able to kill him, Dick doesn’t forget. The shouting to get Bruce awake, the clinging, almost painful hold Bruce would get on him as he came down from any of the myriad nightmares the man had, the waiting until Bruce’s pulse was normal before being gently dismissed from the room. ‘I sleep too lightly for company.’

Dick left the room, wanting the rest of his breakfast and finding it on a silver tray with a rounded cover. “Oh, Fancy.” Dick took the tray carefully and moved to the door Damian left through. He was just about to wonder where Damian was in this big house when he heard a faint, “ZOINKS!” and decided to follow the sounds of good cartoons.


	5. Chapter 5

Damian had already seen this episode but Scooby-Doo was a classic and he’d learned you don’t question a classic. He sat with a blanket over his lap and Tidus laying on the floor across his feet like his own heater. Alfred the cat had disappeared at some point like he often does. It was a comfort. The routine. Except one piece was missing. Bright and sunny know how to fix it all Grayson. In all his stupid advice the older man usually had a point or some workable suggestion.

“Don't back down but don't push too hard. 

Sometimes no matter what you do he’ll just say no. 

Its not your fault Dami, its his. 

You guys just have to talk. 

I’ll work out Dami. 

He loves you.”  
~~~~  
Damian was sitting on the sofa, watching Scooby Doo and able to look so young for once. Damian wasn’t avidly interested, but at this point Dick had expected that, what he hadn’t expected was Damian to look so… content. “Got room for one more?” Dick asked, even though the sofa was about the size of an airplane runway. It was polite, and he would be polite, it would make Damian more inclined to indulge him in play.  
~~~~  
The last person he’d expected to see after the shouting match that carried up the stairs was Grayson... ‘Dick’ Damian’s mind supplied. He silently nodded and pretended to continue watching as the gang of teenaged mystery solvers set up their trap for the dramatic reveal, all the while keeping an eye on the other boy.  
~~~~  
Dick set the covered tray of food on the sofa and retrieved a folding table from the stand that had been in the corner by the mantle since he’d lived there, and likely before that too. The TV was new, bigger and the picture was somehow way better, Dick climbed onto the sofa and realized that he didn’t know how to sit relative to Damian. In the kitchen the chairs were already placed. Damian didn’t seem like the kind of person who just cuddled either. But at the same time Tidus was at his feet… Dick decided to sit at the edge of the blanket, that way if Damian didn’t like it, he could scoot away, or if he did, they could share the blanket. Satisfied with his spot on the sofa Dick moved his table of food closer to himself and set about the VERY SERIOUS task of eating breakfast the only way it can be eaten. With enthusiasm.  
~~~~  
Pennyworth had brought him his breakfast earlier and he’d finished it quickly. The tray still sat at the end of the couch. Breakfast wasn’t always so large an affair and his stomach felt pleasantly stuffed. It put a small smile on his face to see the younger boy eat with the same bright enthusiasm as he did when he was older. Damian knew he saw Pennyworth’s cooking as something to truly be excited about and while he did love the man’s skills he just couldn’t get excited about it like Grayson would.  
~~~~  
Dick prayed thanks to God again for letting the Wayne Family borrow the angel Alfred Pennyworth as he ate his hash browns. WHEN had the man thought to add spices to hashbrowns? It was like eating seasoned fries, but HASHBROWNS. Dick gave a hum of appreciation, nearly choked on too big of a bite, had to down half of his milk, and dived into the rest of his food. Dick settled some as his table of food began to clear and started watching the last minute or so of a classic Scooby-Doo episode. He’d seen all of these multiple times and never got tired of The Mystery Gang’s hijinks. Dick took a sip of orange juice and said with the TV, “And I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for you meddling kids!” and laughed. It had to be Saturday. These were the cartoons of a Saturday morning, they had to be.  
~~~~  
Tossing the remote over Damian settled further into the couch. “There’s nothing else I particularly care for on next. Chose what you want. There’s 300 channels to pick from and more movies on the shelf. All I ask is no Lion King.”  
~~~~  
“Agreed if you tell me why.” Dick said, standing up and moving to the shelf, There were more movies than last time, decidedly more children’s movies by far, and many he hadn’t heard of. Up. What the heck kind of title is UP? Apparently 101 dalmatians came out with a sequel. Rise of the Guardians. Huh, sounded epic. If he would remember this, (if he was actually out of his time and would be sent back in time) should he be watching new movies? It sort of seemed… Spoiler-ish. Ah, there was the now infamous Lion King… and Lion King 1 ½, and Lion King 2? Oh cripes. Oooh what’s Enchanted? Dick pouted at the wall, these weren’t VHS tapes and there was very little space on the spine of these tiny movie cases to make inferences about the movies. OH MY GOD THEY HAD A WINNER. How To Train Your Dragon.  
~~~~  
“While I see the merit in the films cinematic value I can only watch them so many times before I get tired of them.” Damian sighed and watched as Grayson tilted his head this way and that, making faces at each title. It was VERY entertaining to Damian. Watching as Dick’s brow scrunched along with his nose showing his doubt of its merit versus his eyes lighting up when he was intrigued. “As a note of interest, you, older you, were the one to purchase most every movie up there. I doubt you could pick one you won't like.”  
~~~~  
Dick pulled the tiny case for How To Train Your Dragon and frowned, “The art is funny.” Dick popped the case, “A CD? It’s only a story?!” Dick pouted, “Aww maaan!” Dick looked down at the little CD in his hand then back to the shelf, “Are they ALL CDs? Where are the MOVIES!?”  
~~~~  
A million scathing comments on the boy’s intelligence were squashed down with a viciousness. “Its a DVD. It IS a movie. Same thing as VHS or whatever stone ages tech you’re used to, except its on a disk.” Damian got up from his comfortable spot on the couch and walked over to the shelf. Plucking the previously picked movie case he pulled out the disk. “This is a Blu Ray DVD.” He walked over to the TV stand. “This,” He pointed. “Is the Blu Ray player. It basically works exactly the same as a VHS player.” Damian only knew how to work a VHS because Grayson had insisted he know the classics that the man only has on VHS. “Come here and I’ll show you how to use it.”  
~~~~  
Dick quirked an eyebrow but followed Damian to the little box under the big screen TV. “VHS tapes are NOT stone age tech.” Dick mumbled, “They’re awesome.”  
~~~~  
“So I’ve heard.” Damian could not keep a small smile off his face as he showed Dick each button on both the player and the remote. Damian had to be sure that Grayson could use the player even if he wasn’t around. Last thing he needed was a call while out on patrol or something. He didn’t mind though. It gave them something to talk about.  
~~~~  
Dick followed Damian’s explanation for the most part, most of the buttons were familiar to him. Slow and Skip were new but it was just new speeds of fast forward and rewind so Dick wasn’t too concerned. Hearing about the Skip button was exciting, “You mean we don’t have to sit through the commercials at the beginning?! Sweet.” Dick thought the menu button was something he was going to have to see to get it better, but it made him smile to know that there was now subtitles for the hearing impaired and in other languages as well as other spoken languages. “Wow, that’s super cool.” Dick smiled, thinking of some of his old friends from the circus, grown ups who’d left their country with barely an elementary education, ones that didn’t speak english well, ones that had learned to read Right along side Dick. He thought of how just this one disc could be for each of them, and he hugged Damian, just because he made himself emotional.  
~~~~  
“Yeah, I suppose it is? Its how I learned most american terms.” Damian was raised learning things by books and a team of teachers but certain things made much more sense to him when put in context with subtitles. He still didn't understand most American slang though. So all in all he understood when Grayson had explained why subtitles were a big deal to him about a year back. The, then older man, had bought a whole DVD set for everyone in the circus along with language teaching movies for the young crowd as well as the older generation. He wanted to be sure they got every opportunity they could to learn and enjoy the things he did.  
~~~~  
“Heh, so that’s where you learned slang.” Dick let go of Damian, “So… you push eject, it sticks it’s tongue out at you, you feed it the disc, you tell it to close it’s mouth, that’s so rude. Then it thinks about it and it’ll play the movie?” Dick narrated his movements. indeed the faint whirring was indicative of the machine thinking about it, and Dick, realizing he’d gotten it right, made a mad dash for the sofa, remote in hand.  
~~~~  
That actually got a chuckle out of Damian even as he rolled his eyes and slowly made his way back to the couch. the thought of how the guy could go through life so cheer and excited all the time was an endless mystery to him. Sitting down he tucked his feet back under Tidus and handed over half of the blanket to share.  
~~~~  
Overjoyed at being offered the blanket, Dick snuggled in close to Damian watching the amazing previews of movies he’d never heard of or could have dreamed of. “Ohh, I’m going to Love this! Look at the DETAIL!” Dick hopped in his seat. “Do the thing the thing that skips the commercials, no, wait, let them play these are SO COOL!”  
~~~~  
“We have all of these movies so I guess this gives you an idea of what they are. Here.” Damian handed over the remote and snuggled in. It was saturday and he had nothing really scheduled to concern himself with so he might as well be in it for the long haul.  
~~~~  
Dick let the remote sit on top of the blanket and snuggled in with Damian closer, eyes wide in sheer amazement at the awesome detail in the new movies. “If you’ve seen this movie before does that mean that if I talk during it you won’t get really annoyed? ‘Cause I sorta do that.” Dick admitted somewhat sheepishly, “But you would already know that if we’ve watched movies together before, wouldn’t you?”  
~~~~  
Damian did know that and expected it. Dick was a talker and a mover. Asking him not to talk was like asking him not to move or flip around. “I’ve accepted it.” He shrugged. “You make comments during movies, tv shows, even commercials. I either tune you out or comment as well. The Lion King is the worst... actually musicals are the worst. You sing. Every. Song. Do you think you’re on broadway because that is the only explanation I can think of.”  
~~~~  
Dick laughed, “But the songs are so GOOD and catchy and it’s so FUN. It has nothing to do with broadway, it’s just… fun. I …” Dick searched around for a word that could express himself properly to Damian, “Joy. I enjoy it.” Dick nodded, “Yeah.”  
~~~~  
“-tt- I know that.” Damian only had a problem with the man trying to get him involved in his vocal show. The man would bounce around making the hand gestures and grab at Damian like he was somehow going to get into the ‘magic’ of it. “Don’t expect me to sing. It. Won’t. Happen.”  
~~~~  
“Oh, well NOW you’ve just made it a Challenge. You should know I LOVE a good challenge.” Dick grinned like a hyena at Damian, distracted temporarily from the commercials. “Is this movie a musical?” Dick asked, honestly curious. If it was, Damian would sing. Dick would MAKE it happen.  
~~~~  
Damian grinned, “No its not, and no I won't.” He pulled the blanket up a bit. It was a bit cold in the room this morning. “You have tried and failed many times. I don't sing to movies.”  
~~~~  
Dick pouted at Damian, but he remembered suddenly Bruce’s words about he would have a bit more leeway because Damian wouldn’t be attempting to ‘be the grown up’ because neither of them were. “Is it because you just don’t know the songs, that you don’t like the songs, or is it only because it’s foolish?”  
~~~~  
Damian looked over at the younger boy confused. ‘What kind of question is that?’ “-tt-” He huffed and tried to think of the best explanation. “I don’t dislike the songs. They’re fine. I just... Its not enjoyable for me. I would rather listen than partake.”  
~~~~  
Dick blinked. “Oh, okay.” Dick noticed that the TV had gone dark, running through the production studios that made the movie possible. Suddenly trying to force Damian to sing along didn’t seem like the way to get the other boy to play, so Dick decided to watch the movie instead.

This, is Burk.

“Oooh, Dramatic.” Dick murmured. But he listened as the narrator continued, “But it doesn’t sound like a very nice place to live.”  
~~~~  
“I don’t think its your kind of place.” Damian shook his head. “...you would be him if you did though.” He pointed out as the main character was introduced. Damian liked to imagine this is what it would be like if Dick lived with the League of Assassins. Stubbornly... awesomely different.  
~~~~  
Dick smiled, and watched as the main character stumbled around and was shouted at to get inside, “No, I don’t think so. I’m MUCH more graceful than he is. I like his sense of humor though.” Dick commented. “The dragons are so AMAZING looking! It looks so REAL but it looks like a cartoon!” Dick bounced a little in his seat, shaking Damian’s shoulder a little.  
~~~~  
Allowing himself to be shaken more awake he chuckled. “Yes, you would be doing cartwheels around everyone instead. Welcome to the future and world of CGI.”  
~~~~  
“Explain CGI.” Dick insisted, “Just don’t do it in a Bat way that makes something cool boring.” Dick shook Damian’s shoulder again, “OH! he’s an ENGINEER that is SO cool!” Dick looked from the screen to Damian, “Are they serious though? His name is actually Hiccup?”  
~~~~  
“Yeah I don’t get why that is his name either. Please desist in shaking me, It’s far too early in the morning.” Damian grumbled feeling the contents of his stomach roll. The first time Grayson had done it he’d nearly stabbed the man and the need to grab his arm to stop the shaking was getting worse.

“CGI stands for Computer Generated Imagery. This movie was not hand drawn, nore made with stop motion puppets. It’s all created in a computer.”  
~~~~  
“If you desist saying desist then I’ll stop shaking you.” Dick teased, “Seriously? A computer did THAT? And I thought the Labyrinth was the coolest thing ever. The stuff we can do now.” Dick sat up, “OH! He hit it!”  
~~~~  
“-tt-” ‘There’s nothing wrong with my language!’ He mentally pouted. It occurred to him after a moment he must be tired for such a simple thing to bother him. “Labyrinth? Thank god, I was born in this decade.”  
~~~~  
“His dad isn’t a good listener for a chief.” Dick noted, moving himself so he was snuggled up and around Damian. “Oh, he’s going to go get the dragon!”  
~~~~  
For a moment Damian tensed at the new development before relaxing and slowly accepting that everything was ok. He listened with half an ear as the boy chatted and commented about this and that through the movie as he slowly drifted off. Damian woke once as Grayson got up to put in another film only to fall back asleep once the boy settled against him again and this time slept deeply. ~~~~  
Dick was steadily working his way through pixar and dreamworks, or, that had been his plan, but Damian had fallen asleep in his arms. Dick threw in Toy Story and fell in love with the opening song, you’ve got a friend in me, and had decided suddenly to rewind the scene about ten times until he learned the song before letting the movie play. Damian had CHOSEN to sleep in his arms, apparently felt safe enough to do that with him. For the trust Dick felt honored, but he wasn’t sure what to do at that point. It was Alfred who saved the day. After toy story finished Alfred selected Beauty and the Beast for it’s strange ability to put him to sleep by the end of the movie’s self titled song, ‘Beauty and the Beast.’ After most of the movie played, both boys were passed out cold on the couch. “Sleep well Master Damian, Tidus? Come. You’ve already abandoned the young master’s feet.” 


	6. Chapter 6

Some time a few hours later Damian woke to his stomach vibrating only to find Alfred the cat laying there, snuggled and half squished between the two boys. Grayson was asleep next to him still wrapped around him and cuddled close. Everything was warm and comfortable and he could smell something amazing. Lunch had to be almost ready. His stomach growled almost quietly and Alfred looked at his stomach confused and curious as if he’d never heard such a thing in all his cat years. 

Damian sighed, he was too content to move so he didn’t. Food could come later. He slowly drifted back to sleep when his stomach growled louder followed by four very sharp claws to his abs making him jump and swear in Arabic as the cat scrambled over the two bodies.  
~~~~  
Dick woke to an angry voice speaking a language he didn’t know and training took over. Before he realized exactly who was talking he had already flipped away, grabbed the remote in lieu of a weapon and sat perched on the arm of the sofa before dropping out of stance and looking amusedly as the cat scuttled off the sofa and away. Damian being the one who was talking. “Did the cat spoil your sleep?” Dick asked, he’d been happy that Damian was getting some real sleep.  
~~~~  
“القرف غبي قليلا! أنا لا يرحل سخيف طعن لك!” He shouted at the cat jumping off the back of the couch. He huffed and turned to face the younger boy. “لا كنت مستيقظا. أن نذل قليلا المخالب لي.” He rubbed his face in annoyance realizing he wasn’t speaking english and sighed. “I...sorry. I mean, no. I was kind of already awake. Sort of. The little... He clawed me when my stomach... um مهدور...” He had to think what that word was. He’d been dreaming in Arabic and sometimes it was hard to switch back to english when he just wasn’t awake. “مهدور Growled. Stomach growled.”   
~~~~  
Dick just stared, his heart rate was starting to slow back down and he just couldn’t stop staring at Damian in amazement. “That was SO COOL.” he said, flopping butt first back onto the sofa cushions and crawling back over to Damian, “What language are you speaking, is that your first language? Oh, do you speak any OTHER languages? What did you just say? I mean the parts you didn’t already tell me. You sounded angry, i bet you said something AWESOME.” Dick probably didn’t realize he was invading Damian’s personal space once again, but he was excited.  
~~~~  
Resisting the urge to lean back Damian replayed the questions. “Arabic, yes it is, yes I do, and... um... Words I’m not supposed to use to insult the cat.” He didn’t mind having the boy invade his space it was Grayson after all it wasn’t anything new just... usually less enthusiastic. He really wasn’t a morning person by nature. Yes he could pop up awake and alert like the trained Bat assassin he was but that didn't mean he liked it. It took years to get him to this point, to where he could sleep for hours at a time and most of all around people. The list for that was remarkably short to only Grayson, Pennyworth, and Drake of all people. Of those three Grayson was the brightest morning person ever. Drake was of like mind of Damian, mornings sucked.   
~~~~  
Damian wasn’t leaning away from him so Dick took the opportunity to pull the other boy into a hug that was more like a full body cuddle, “Which other languages do you speak? How long did it take you to learn english? Did you cuss? I bet you cussed out the cat. What IS that cat’s name anyways, he’s a new addition since I was here.” Dick rolled his eyes to the ceiling, “Will you play with me later today?” Dick didn’t realize just how much weight the last question carried until he’d asked it. He wanted Damian to want to play with him, to like him.  
~~~~  
To Damian it sounded like the questions were coming at speedster levels of fast. The only one he actually heard... or listened to was the last one. Maybe it was the pause between questions or the way he asked, like it was an actually important question and the others were just chatter. He accepted the hug and buried his face in the boy’s shoulder tiredly. “Yeah. Ok.” He answered. He didn’t mind, at least not at the moment. Playing didn’t sound so bad if it was with a younger Dick Grayson. He didn’t have to impress him or try to remember to act appropriately... like a Wayne. He didn’t have to worry about making a fool of himself in front of someone he respected and he was not awake enough to even worry about all that. “Play what?”   
~~~~  
Dick shrugged, arms full of the ever so slightly larger boy, “I was thinking we try everything until we found something you liked, then we play that.” He had a couple of ideas, Damian seemed competitive, like he would enjoy winning, but might get aggressive if put up against someone else. A game where they helped one another, one where the only thing to beat was time or boredom. Not a sit down board game though, let Damian run a bit and settle before that. “In the catacombs outside the area of the cave, there’s a sweet waterfall.” Bruce had told him to stay out of the cave, but Dick would deal with those consequences later. For now he thought it would be fun to dive off the waterfall with Damian.  
~~~~  
“Ok, what about it?” Damian mumbled into Dicks shoulder. He was starting to feel sleepy again so he sat up a bit better against his better judgement. He really wasn't sure whether he wanted to wake up or sleep more. It was a tough call but his stomach growled again confirming the need for food and he pouted about that. He was fine where he was, getting food meant leaving.   
~~~~  
Dick shrugged again, “I was thinking of going swimming and diving at the falls… After lunch though, I guess.” Dick moved with Damian as the boy sat up, Damian seemed a bit fuzzy around the head with not quite wakefulness and Dick wanted to see more. Damian was nearly a child when he was sleepy.  
~~~~  
“Yeah, I’m hungry.” He sighed. “I wonder what Pennyworth is cooking. It smells... really good.” Damian let go of Grayson to rub his face and wake himself up a little better. “Lets get food.” Damian got up and waited for the younger boy to follow suit, his stomach making noise to prove its point.   
~~~~  
Dick laughed at Damian’s vocal stomach and followed gladly. Alfred didn’t seem surprised to see two sleepy headed boys stumble into his kitchen, there were two small plates on which each a diagonally cut sandwich sat. “Nearly ready, young masters.” Alfred assured them, “That should tide you over for the moment.” Alfred moved away from the stove and set down two glasses which he filled with apple juice. Damian normally drank water or milk, but here and with Dick at his present age, Alfred expected he would be able to get away with the apple juice.  
~~~~  
Damian accepted the glass of juice with nothing more than a slightly raised brow and dug into the sandwich. It wasn’t that he didn't like apple juice he just didn't care for it often. It felt like a childrens drink and why drink the juice of an apple when he could eat the apple that had less sugar in it. “Thank you Pennyworth.” a quiet meow came from the corner of the kitchen where the pet food bowls were. “Alfred.” He glared at the cat.   
~~~~  
Dick already had a mouthful of sandwich, so he had a moment to think about his question before he asked, “Okay, I’ve got a couple of options here. One, you just called Alfred by his first name. Unlikely, but a possibility. Two, someone was ‘brilliant’” Dick pronounced the word like he was saying, ‘boneheaded.’ “enough to name the cat AFTER Alfred. Which begs the question who named the cat?”  
~~~~  
“-tt- Its a perfectly reasonable name Grayson.” Damian growled in defence. Yes, he had named the cat and it was a perfect name for him. He already gotten the eyebrow from an older Grayson but that one had kept his mouth shut. He’s just smiled and said ‘Alright’ like it was funny but agreeable.   
~~~~  
“That’s …. TOTALLY confusing!” Dick said, “Alfred is making something AMAZING in the oven right now, but there’s ANOTHER Alfred who’s asking for pettings by winding between my legs?” Dick bent and picked up the cat, “Do YOU cook like the heavens put you on loan to the Wayne family?” he asked the cat curiously, already bringing the cat in close to hold it’s warmth to his chest and pet it. Dick took note that he had one free use of Damian’s nickname now that he’d been called Grayson, but he decided not to waste it, as was his first instinct. 

Alfred smiled to himself. The statement was one he knew well. That he was an angel the heavens had let Bruce borrow to watch over the Wayne family, both ones in only name and ones by blood. It gave Alfred no small amount of pride to hear the praise again. He opened the oven, checking on the quesadillas cooking between specially made stone slabs, as he’d been shown to do many years ago.

“Ah, Lunch is ready.” Alfred announced happily, content to stay out of the young men’s conversation and carefully maneuver the quesadillas on to large plates. He didn’t expect either boy to FINISH the whole quesadilla they would be served, but leftovers never had lasted long while Master Richard had been growing up in Wayne manor. He set one quesadilla in front of each boy, setting a third under a silver cover, for when Master Bruce woke up.  
~~~~  
“Don't be ridiculous. Of course he does not cook. The name fits him fine. See he’s wearing a suit.” Damian pointed to the cats markings that made it look like he was wearing a miniature suit just like the Pennyworths in Damian’s opinion. Huffing he turned to his food and ate quietly and with a pout on his face. He was feeling defensive and not liking that feeling.   
~~~~  
Dick looked from Damian, to the cat, to Alfred, and back to the cat. Dick held up the cat again, looking him over. “Oooh.” Dick said, drawing out the word as understanding bit him in the ass too late. Damian was being cute again, but now he was upset about being teased. Damian, was sensitive to teasing? Dick set the cat down and tucked into the flat tortilla sandwich like thing that seemed to be oozing cheese delightfully and smelled amazing. Somehow it didn’t follow to Dick that Damian would be sensitive, that he would allow himself to be sensitive at all. ‘So, he’s only sensitive to those whom he decides matter. I matter, so when I tease it finds the chinks in that brick wall he throws up.’ Dick thanked the heavens for both Alfreds, and tucked into his first quesadilla.

‘His face is just as delightful to witness the second time around.’ Alfred thought to himself quietly. ‘What else haven’t I made for young Master Richard yet in his time?’  
~~~~  
Damian gave up trying to analyse why a younger version of the man he cared for’s opinion mattered just as much as his older self. It simply made no sense other than to say that it was just Grayson. Damian came to this conclusion just as he discovered that apple juice and quesadilla tasted horrifying together. Setting down the glass he got up and got himself some bottled water, taking a drink from it to wash his mouth out before sitting back down. ‘Apple juice is disgusting.’ He decided glaring at the glass.  
~~~~  
Dick ate lunch with gusto, he wasn’t sure what he was eating was CALLED but it was spanish food and it tasted like cheesy goodness. Following Damian’s lead he used his knife and fork to cut away bite sized pieces of what was something like a half inch high flatbread sandwich pie thing. It had cubed chunks of chicken and peppers and onions and tomatoes and sour cream and so much wonderful cheese in between slightly crisped tortillas Dick could feel himself getting full fast, and he wasn’t even half way through his plate yet. Maybe he shouldn’t have had that sandwich, as light as that had been. “After lunch.” Dick said between bites, “Do you still want to go play?” Alfred never paused in his cleaning of the dishes, but still, he listened intently. Had Young Master Damian agreed to play with Young Master Richard?  
~~~~  
It took a moment for the question and what he’d agreed to to catch up with him. Once it did his face felt a lot warmer than it had a moment before. “I said I would, didn't I?” He took another bite and swallowed doing his best to act nonchalant. “I stick to my agreements.” ‘I agreed to PLAY?! What’s wrong with me? Clearly I was not thinking, perhaps I was drugged? No, not likely. How did this happen?’ He may have been in an altered state of mind but he’d stick to what he’d said. He agreed to it and he would honor that, besides it didn't seem like it would be anything too bad. Swimming and jumping from the waterfalls was an acceptable pastime. It shouldn't be anything he could make a fool of himself over.   
~~~~  
“Well, not DIRECTLY after lunch.” Dick said, cutting another bite out. “Gotta wait to digest before swimming.” Dick smiled at Alfred’s back, the man tended to remind him of little rules like that when he got too excited to remember himself. 

Alfred smiled as he turned around, “Excellent, Master Richard, Where shall the swimming be?” Alfred would make sure they would have all the necessary towels and changes of clothing in place where they chose to swim before they were finished.

“The waterfall to the south east of the main Bat cave.” Dick said. Sure Bruce had told him not to go into the cave, but he was probably talking about staying away from the computer, and he would.  
~~~~  
Damian rolled his eyes. “Obviously not directly after.” He muttered. He’d made it a little over halfway through his quesadilla before he decided that he’d had enough food for now and set the plates to the side. “I’ll keep an eye on him, we’ll be fine.”  
~~~~  
“I’ve swam at the waterfall before, I don’t need a babysitter.” Dick mumbled into his food, but Damian’s feathers seemed to be soothed so Dick let it go and continued eating.  
~~~~  
“That was not what I meant.” Damian mumbled back. He’d really said it for Alfred’s sake, to let the man know they would stay out of things like the computer and away from all the Bat equipment. It was meant more to keep Alfred from babysitting both of them rather than Damian babysitting the younger boy. “I DO NOT baby sit. Ever.” Damian didn’t even get along with kids his age let alone watch over one. Damian and other kids was a disaster.   
~~~~  
Dick gave a sidelong glance to Damian, “Okay okay, fine. It’s not babysitting.” Dick was still not even half way done with his lunch but it was just so MUCH, he didn’t think he was going to make his goal of halfway through. “What are we going to do in the meantime? I don’t even remember which movie we were watching.”  
~~~~  
“I usually take Tidus out for a walk after lunch.” Damian said it more as a suggestion than a matter of fact. While it was true he usually took the dog outside in the afternoon it was typically for a morning run and usually before he ate. Running a few miles just after eating didn't sound all that great but maybe throwing a ball for the dog would be ok.   
~~~~  
Dick shrugged, “Sounds fun.” Dick finished his apple juice and stood up, “Thanks for lunch Alfred, what do you call this stuff?”

“A Quesadilla, Master Richard.” Alfred said happily, “It’s good to know you enjoyed it.” Alfred set a small plate of left over chicken down for the cat.

“I hope I get to eat it more in the years between my time and this one.” Dick said happily. Dick looked at Damian, “Wanna go now?”  
~~~~  
Damian nodded and got up from his place grabbing his water bottle, “Thank you Pennyworth.” Damian made for the closet at the front door and grabbed a tennis ball and a frisbee not sure which one the young Grayson would prefer. He wondered if grabbing the soccer ball was a good idea or not. They’d just ate so Damian decided against it. The frisbee should be fine he figured. As always the lumbering dog was magically near by and wagging his tail, ready to go.


	7. Chapter 7

“Someone knows when he’s getting exercise.” Dick commented happily, throwing open the door, letting Tidus out ahead of them. The day was beautiful and bright, “Man, it’s almost a shame to go back inside to swim. It’s so nice today.” Dick turned his face up into the warmth of the sun, humming in happiness.  
~~~~  
“Unusually nice.” Warm weather was no stranger in the middle of spring in Gotham but a bright sunny day certainly was. There were remarkably few clouds in the normally cloudy and dark skies. Gotham even during its brightest days typically had more crowded skies. It was as if Gotham was brightening up for the return of one of its favorite children. Damian made his way down the steps and threw the ball randomly, feeling Tidus rush past him to get it. “Only the cliffs are off limits. The dog is too stupid not to jump off of them after the ball.”  
~~~~  
“Aww, sorry buddy, you’re not a circus acrobat and you don’t have a zip line, so no flying for you.” Dick laughed as Tidus bounded back to them, ball in mouth, “Dami, look!” Dick said, pulling Tidus’ ears even straighter, “Batdog!” Dick laughed harder.  
~~~~  
‘Dami, you’re gonna love this!’

‘Awww come on Dami.’

‘Dami.’ 

Younger or older he still said his name the same way. Exactly the same and it had an echo ringing through his head for a moment. Surprisingly it was actually a bit comforting to know it was the same and a bit disturbing of how much of a reminder it was. He was about to snap at him over the use of the nickname before their agreement came to mind and his use of the boy’s last name. So his sighed and turned to look as he was asked. After a second his mouth curved in a smirk and he huffed a chuckle. They really did look like the ears of the cowl and it wasn't too far a mental leap to suddenly picture the dog dressed in a uniform of his own. The image was pretty funny.   
~~~~  
Dick laughed more when Damian made this strangled laugh-like thing, it was a start. Turning his attention to Tidus Dick grabbed what parts of the ball he could and said, “Tidus, Give!” firmly, but warmly and when the ball was released, Dick threw it yet again. Tidus took off like a dark bolt and Dick hooted enthusiasm, “WHOOO! Go Tidus! Catch it, Mid-air, JUMP!! Yeaaaaaah, good BOY!” Dick turned to Damian, “When he comes back you and me should throw the frisbee AND the ball at the same time. I wanna see what Tidus does.” Dick’s smile threatened to hurt his cheeks but the sun was warm, he was playing fetch and there was someone his age at Wayne Manor, so he didn’t care.  
~~~~  
“Something stupid I’d bet.” Damian stated. The dog never failed to impress him with just how ridiculous he could be. He handed the frisbee to the other boy. Tidus came back with the ball and stopped at Damian’s feet. He held out his hand and firmly said “Drop it.” Tidus dropped the ball from his mouth into Damian’s waiting hand, drool and all. 

“On three. One, two, three!” Tidus watched watched the toys fly and caught the frisbee mid air but had to drop it to get the ball. Damian watched as the ‘remarkably stupid dog’ dropped the ball to stare and paw at the frisbee before barking at both, seemingly because he couldn't fit them both in his mouth. “JUST PICK ONE!”  
~~~~  
“It’s okay Tidus, You can go back and get the other!” Dick called through tearful laughter. “Oh MAN, he just DROPPED it when the ball started bouncing away.” Dick wiped his eyes, “Oh, that was good. Ha, haha!” Dick pointed at Tidus who’d taken the ball back into his mouth and was attempting to roll the frisbee, “No Tidus! If you’re going to do THAT you gotta do it the other way ‘ROUND!”  
~~~~  
Damian couldn’t watch this. He laid his hand over his eyes and wished his dog wasn’t such a dunce. It was actually a little funny but Damian just couldn’t get past the dogs cluelessness. He had to give him an ‘A for effort’ as Grayson would say. He was trying hard to bring back both toys to the boys. Even if he’d barely made it a foot and a half closer. He chuckles a little bit before stifling that too. “Maybe I should just go get it. This is painful and probably animal cruelty.”  
~~~~  
“This is PURE GOLD and we should turn ourselves into Gotham PD for not getting this on FILM.” Dick was holding his side, he was starting that wonderful ache that came from laughing so hard. “He managed to flip the frisbee onto it’s other side! That’s talent.” Tidus dropped the ball, “Oh! You gonna switch it up? You gonna push the ball with the frisbee?” 

Tidus looked up at the two of them, giving them both a whining bark that all but audibly pleaded, “This is IMPOSSIBLE, come HELP me!”

“Aww,” Dick laughed again, “Poor Tidus! Just get the ball!”  
~~~~  
Seeing Dick laugh so hard and be so happy put a smile on his face but Tidus’s whine made him shake his head in pity. “This is sad. I CAN’T leave him like this!” 

Damian sighed and walked over and watched Tidus sit and wait for him. Yeah he had a huge soft spot for animals and just couldn’t stand to see his dog look at him with that sad ‘I can’t. please help’ look on his face. He was a sucker for that face.   
~~~~  
“If you don’t let him figure out stuff on his own you’ll have to do everything for him!” Dick called after Damian. Then he realized something, “NO WAIT! Stay there! Toss the frisbee over here!” Dick readied himself, “Lets see if he catches it before I do!” That sounded like a good way to get Tidus some exercise.  
~~~~  
Damian stopped mid bend and stood up again, as he considered being the reason his dog was an idiot. Only to stop mid way of standing at the boy’s yell. “Make up your mind!” He huffed to himself mostly. As the thought caught up to him of what Grayson was asking he wasn’t sure if it was in the realm of things a Wayne would do. Playing catch outside a training session? It sounded like a ploy of some kind. He looked to the excited boy several feet away and back to the frisbee on the ground. Grayson. Frisbee... Suddenly he notice Tidus is mimicking his movements of looking back and forth. “-TT-” He quickly snatched the toy up glaring at the dog who just happily tilted his head to the side.  
~~~~  
“Throw it!” Dick called out, “Or the ball, but you already got the frisbee!” Dick encouraged, laughing at the fact that he got yelled at, “Don’t be mad Damian, it’s just a new way to give Tidus exercise.”   
~~~~  
Turning his glare on the other boy Damian huffed. He was being conned into playing. He could see it. It was right there. He looked back at Tidus and figured was a pretty good excuse should anyone ask. Giving in he threw the Frisbee to Dick.  
~~~~  
“I’m gonna catch it FIRST!” Dick called out warningly to Tidus, taking off after the disc. The dog bounded after it, jumping up to catch it in his mouth, but it was already in Dick’s hand. Tidus hit the ground, and Dick laughed and let Tidus play tug of war with him over the frisbee. “Ha, Ha! Noooooo, I got it first! you will not wiiiiiiiin!” Dick pulled on it for a few moments before letting go suddenly and pointing downwards, mimicking Damian, “Tidus! Drop it.” And when Tidus did so, Dick took the frisbee in hand, bending down to pet Tidus some cooing praise before he threw the frisbee at Damian with little to no warning to the dog, “GO Tidus! Get it! Get it! Get it! Get it! Get it!”  
~~~~  
Seeing the great dane bounding after him right on the heels of the frisbee, on instinct, Damian reached out to grab it. The second his fingers closed around it Tidus was already jumping and a second away from having it too. Damian spun away to keep it away from the dog and even tossed into his right hand. Grinning like mad Damian showed it to the barking dog and tossed it back to Dick. Happy in his triumph.  
~~~~  
“Whooohoooo!” Dick called, running after the frisbee as a sudden wind caught it and blew it off course directly to him as Damian had intended, Tidus was already running for it, “I’m going to get it!” Dick called again, but he wasn’t as sure of his victory this time. Dick made a leap for the frisbee, and was already laughing in midair at the realization that he didn’t make it. Tidus got a hold of the disc and again tug of war started. When Dick had had enough of playing that he commanded Tidus to drop the disc again and tossed it to Damian.

That continued for a few passes, Dick laughing and Damian trying not to have fun and sort of failing. Dick was proud of himself.  
~~~~  
Damian didn't bother getting too fancy in his throws seeing as they were still in the front yard. Reporters still camped out around the walls and gate all too often and it wouldn't do to show off and get caught. However Damian just couldn't resist a little flair both for teasing Tidus and to have some actual fun with Dick. At least he could admit that much in his head. After a while Tidus just laid down in the grass and started rolling around. Apparently done with playing keep away. “I accept your surrender, mutt.”  
~~~~  
“Hey now,” Dick teased, moving in, “Tidus is purebred. It’s not nice insulting lineage either way though.” Dick leaned down and scratched at Tidus’ belly, “Who’s a good boy? Who had fun with a frisbee? Who made an AWESOME catch? ME silly! But also you, so GOOOOOOD good boy!”  
~~~~  
“-tt-. There’s nothing wrong with mutts. He is a great dane, but mixed blue and black. Thats why the black of his fur looks like a dark grey.” Damian shrugged and sat down on the other side of the dog. “So yeah he’s mixed but I like him that way.” Lineage seemed to be a forever touchy subject in this house. Damian couldn’t help feeling defencive about it. It’d taken over a year of talking with an older Dick to get over his own lineage issues. He’d once been proud of his mother's lineage till he’d come to realise how crazy they all were. It had hurt his pride and view of himself for a while.   
~~~~  
“That’s good, that he’s got a little bit of a mix in him, too much purebred inbreeding is bad for the dogs.” Dick said, hands still making Tidus snuffle happily on his belly. “You done? Or do you just want a new game?” Dick stops scratching, to which Tidus looks mortally offended.  
~~~~  
“He doesn't have much of an attention span for games.” Damian shrugged. “There’s a ton of tennis balls around the yard from him just getting bored and leaving them.” Damian couldn't blame him. chasing a ball didn't seem like much of a target to play with. Even he got bored with knife throwing at dummys. “He needs a better challenge, like a squirrel maybe... if he chased those. Which he doesn't.”  
~~~~  
“That’s because Tidus isn’t a hunter, he’s a lovable lap dog who has a wonderful family that takes good care of him, he’s so lucky! Yes he is!” Dick said, starting out speaking normally to Damian and shifting to speak in an enthusiastic voice to Tidus his hand goes back to work scratching and it appears that once again all is right with Tidus’ world.   
~~~~  
Damian hides a grin as he watches the two roll around in the grass. Sitting down near enough that he was close but far enough that he wouldn't get caught in the fray he actually felt content. It was different having someone near his age in the house that liked to play. Colin Wilkes, one of his first friends next to Grayson, really wasn’t the play type either. They hung out at times but mostly to talk and play video games. This was a nice change in scenery and routine. “So what did... do... you do to entertain yourself?”   
~~~~  
“Well, I was in the middle of exploring the manor, But you’ve probably already gone through every room by now. So that’s out, you’ll get bored. There’s swimming, there’s the gymnasium, I had friends in school I’d play with on occasion while the sun was up. Truthfully though, I’ve been interested in people like Kid Flash, Speedy, and such, you know, the other heros who’ve partnered up with grown mentors. It’d be cool if we could… I don’t know, become friends, learn from one another? Hang out? Help each other, or something. Our own team, a kind of … Junior Justice League?”  
~~~~  
“Junior what?” Damian shook his head in total disbelief. “I’m so glad you didn’t call them that and someone had the good sense to shoot it down. Teen Titans is horrendous enough!” He looked at Dick in a new light. A crazy why would you think of that light.   
~~~~  
“I said a kind of Junior Justice League, not that we would CALL it a Junior Justice League!” Dick protested, blushing his embarrassment but laughing. “JrJL is no way for young heros to be taken seriously. Teen Titans though, That’s kind of awesome. Titans were even more powerful than the gods in myth. Teen Titans sounds good, it says, ‘we’re strong, and we’re not even grown into our abilities yet.’ What is that part of the green lantern oath? Beware my power? Yeah. Like that.”  
~~~~  
Damian snickered. “You all really aren’t always taken seriously NOW. I could only imagine.” Shaking his head again he sighed. “I don’t really... hang is the term you use a lot, with them. They are too undisciplined and untrained for me to work with. We don't...” He shrugged. “Get along, you would say. You seemed pretty disappointed about it. Sorry.”   
~~~~  
Dick didn’t have the kind of background on the situation he knew he would have if he was older. Friends, likely ones Dick had made himself that his latest successor didn’t get along with. More than lament a team he didn’t have any context behind, Dick felt bad for Damian. “It’s hard finding peers for you, isn’t it?” Dick said, and the question was flat, said more like a statement. He didn’t expect to be answered. “Too old and don’t take you seriously, or too young and you can’t take them seriously. In the circus, that’s how they explained what growing up is like.” Dick wiped his brow. “I’m getting hot. Lets go inside and cool off in the water.”  
~~~~  
He nodded and was glad for the change in subject, even if the heat wasn’t a bother to him, as he digested what the other boy had said. It suddenly occurred to him that Dick understood. He Understood. “I thought you didn’t get it, to be honest.” He smiled a little. “I’m glad to know you do.”  
~~~~  
Dick raised an eyebrow and thought about the statement, realizing a bit belatedly that Damian was talking about his grown self. There was nothing really to say about that, so Dick didn’t bother, and instead stood up and patted his leg to get Tidus to follow them back to the house. The difference between the air outside and the air inside was enough that Dick broke out in goosebumps reflexively, but not enough for him to shiver. “It’s been just about long enough for us to be able to go swimming right?” Dick asked.  
~~~~  
“If not I’m sure Pennyworth will materialize out of some corner and inform us.” Damian shrugged. The cool air felt nice in contrast to the heat of the day but it was nice. “Otherwise I suppose we’re fine.”  
~~~~  
“About that,” Dick said moving to the grandfather clock, “I thought only batman did the ‘materialize and disappear’ thing. But Alfred does it too. Who taught who?” Dick wondered if the question even had an answer it seemed so, chicken and egg to him.  
~~~~  
“According to my father and grandfather, Pennyworth learned it first. Before he came to the manor he served in the British Army and according to father he believes he learned the skill while acting.” Damian shrugged again. “Who really knows though.” To Damian it sometimes felt everyone was just making up stories and rumors just to amuse themselves.   
~~~~  
“Cool.” Dick grinned, then he stopped at the clock’s face, “Should we go get changed, or what are the odds that everything we need is already at the falls?”  
~~~~  
Damian gave a grin. “10 to 1. Everything is already there. We did tell Pennyworth our plans after all. He’s nothing is not thorough.”


	8. Chapter 8

Opening the clock he descended the stairs. The air here was even cooler and had a dampness to it.   
~~~~  
Dick laughed, following behind, and sure enough Damian was right, there on a dry area away from the pool under the falls was a blanket, towels, changes of clothes, swim trunks and an electric green foam pipe of some kind with a hole in the center. “What’s this?”  
~~~~  
“I haven’t the slightest idea.” He scowled at the object. “It looks like one of the toys from the pool upstairs. I do not mess with them, so I can not say what it’s purpose is.” Turning away from the toy he started to strip to get into his swimming trunks. He haphazardly tossed his shirt to the side. They had changes of clothing so he didn't plan on putting it on again. He touched a finger to a cut above his hip. The stitches were already out and it was healing, so he let it go.  
~~~~  
Dick stripped down too, grabbing the blue swim trunks as Damian had seemed to naturally go for the green ones. Dick was on one foot about to shimmy out of his pants when he fell over and landed on has butt, “WHOA!” A scar, right along Damian’s spinal cord stood out against the older boy’s skin. It was the largest scar, but certainly not Damian’s only one. “Hate to see the other guy, you look like you’ve been through a WAR ZONE.”  
~~~~  
‘Graceful’ He mentally chuckled pulling up his shorts. His amusement was short lived as the other boy took notice of his scars. He’d never felt self conscious when it’d come to his scars before. He’d always been the least marked of the Bats. His spinal scar was a pretty bad one though, even compared to everyone else, but Grayson had said something that’d stuck with him.

“Scars are the small price we pay for the lives of others. They may not be beautiful but they are badges of honor that we earn and should be respected.” He’d remained still since the moment Dick had noticed them, he didn’t mind if he looked but it did make him a bit nervous. “I noticed you don’t have many scars yet. Being Robin still must be fairly new to you.” Dick’s skin locked soft and with few marks, it was pretty and Damian wondered which ones came with stories.  
~~~~  
Dick blinked, “That’s … whoa.” Dick looked down at his body, he had a few scars, and he wasn’t too concerned about them, but the idea that he was going to get so many later on in life… “Who said that? No offence but it really sounds like you heard it before.” He was going to be Robin, he was going to grow up as Robin and be his own hero, and he was going to protect Gotham. He was going to have scars to show for it. That was… Heavy.  
~~~~  
He gave a small smile at the surprise and the memory. “Honestly? You.” He shrugged he smile not wavering. “You... I was supposed to go undercover and I had to cover them up.” He touched a few as he spoke. “I didn’t say anything but... I felt... different. Then a few months after that...” He sat down in front of the young boy and touched the large scar along his spine. “I got this one when I was shot several times in the back. I had my spine replaced. We... we both felt off i guess till Pennyworth made us sit and talk about it. Thats when you... You told me that. You can look... touch... if you want, It helped you last time.”  
~~~~  
Dick pulled his swim trunks on the rest of the way and moved towards Damian, “Replaced? I REALLY don’t wanna see the other guy.” Dick said weakly. It was such a big scar, This was Robin’s legacy, this was Robin’s scar. But it would never be HIS scar, because he wouldn’t be Robin at the time. Everything felt big and heavy and a little awful, but Dick was surprised and pleased to find out that as his fingers traced the long line down Damian’s back that he could feel proud too.

The moment was too much, too grown up for Dick to carry on with. He gauged the distance, judged that if he acted quickly he had a chance of actually surprising the other boy, and shoved Damian towards the water, hoping to push him into the pool.  
~~~~  
Damian felt the subtle shift in the other like Cass and his training taught him, from serious to... something lighter. It gave him pause and just as he was about to turn to ask Dick what was up he was shoved into the water. He was actually surprised for a moment and easily found his bearings coming up for air and snatching for the other to drag him in too. If that’s how he wanted to play it so be it, Damian was game.  
~~~~  
Dick wasn’t expecting the hand to grab for him but instead of fighting too hard he let himself be pulled into the water. That WAS the ultimate objective right? To have fun at the waterfall? Dick came up for air and rounded to where he’d seen Damian’s legs underwater. Dick shoved water and Splashed Damian in the face. Apparently, the war was on.  
~~~~  
“I accept your challenge!” Damian splashed water back with a sweep of his arm towards the other boy even as he rubbed water from his face. This was something they could both handle. Damian was used to this kind of play fighting from Grayson but did his best to keep it at simple play rather than the water wrestling he was used to, he really didn’t know how rough the other boy liked to play yet.   
~~~~  
Dick was laughing through the water, splashing and being splashed equally, it was a standoff, that was clear. It wasn’t an actual challenge for either of them. For Dick that was fine, but it seemed like Damian was less satisfied, Dick ducked his head under water and filled his mouth with water and spit at Damian’s face.  
~~~~  
“Ugh!” Damian shouted a bit grossed out. The water was not meant for drinking even if it was relatively clean. He dove for the other boy and dragged him just under the surface with him in retaliation.  
~~~~  
Dick wasn’t exactly ready to go for a full underwater battle, but he rolled with it as best as he could. Dick wondered if Damian was ticklish, but thought that Damian would be JUST the type that had trained themselves not to FEEL ticklish. Dick used his flexibility to attempt to break free of Damian’s hold.  
~~~~  
Knowing Dick hadn’t been ready for an attack he maneuvered them to they could both get air as they wrestled. Damian struggled with an extremely bendy Grayson only to lose his hold in a twist.  
~~~~  
Dick couldn’t have won against Damian in a real fight, that much was clear. Damian was clearly better trained, and just as clearly holding back. Instead Dick tried to lead by example and have fun with it, though to how much success, remained unclear. The water fight ended eventually with Dick pulling himself up onto the bank of the pool, breathing heavy and sure that while he hadn’t lost, pretty sure he hadn’t won either.

“That was so fun,” Dick panted, “But I need to catch my breath now.”

“Doth mine ears deceive me? I didn’t think you got TIRED Dickie.” Came a voice from the direction of the Bat Cave, and only Dick was unaware he was about to be visited by his other two successors.  
~~~~  
Giving a long suffering exaggerated sigh, Damian rolled his eyes and sat up from his position on the bank of the pool. It had been really fun playing with Dick and splashing around. It wasn’t really a fight or a contest, rather it was something new to him, play. It had clicked finally what the older man had meant by the word. It wasn’t serious, there were no penalties or consequences, and it was good simple fun of messing around. ... And then Jason Todd walked in. The man’s voice met his ears followed by another..

“Suddenly, all my illusions are broken.” Tim said his voice dripping with sarcasm. This might be Jason’s first time seeing a de aged Dick Grayson but it wasn’t Tim’s.   
~~~~  
Dick pushed himself up onto his elbows, looking at the two strangers who obviously knew him from this present future, “What? I’m not tired! I’m just catching my breath!” Dick said just a little defensively, then belatedly he added, “Hi! Who are you guys?”  
~~~~  
Tim and Jason chuckled. This Tim remembered, the way Dick spoke and how he chose his priorities, randomly. 

Without giving the other two the chance to answer Damian chimed in. “They’re Robin’s. Two of the three that came before me.”   
~~~~  
“What BOTH of them?! No WAY!” Dick picked himself fully out of the water and padded over to the two newcomers, looking them over carefully. “Do I need to teach you guys about what fun is, or is that just a Damian thing?” Dick asked as quietly as he could in the echo carrying cave.

Jason only laughed, “That affliction is TOTALLY exclusive to Lil’ D. Count on it. You can call me Jay by the way.” Jason said, giving Dick a hair ruffle.

It really was his first encounter with Dick becoming de-aged, though he’d heard this thing happened on occasion. It was amusing to see the first Robin in all his bright enthusiastic and youthful glory and note that it wasn’t all that different from Nightwing. “You guys jumped off the top of the falls yet?” Jason asked, animatedly. Tim was sounding exhausted already.  
~~~~  
At the confirmation that Damian was the only one that needed to learn how to have fun he spat back a “Shut up Todd. No we have not.”

Tim raised a brow but instead of commenting he simply held out a hand to Dick with a smile. “We’ve met before. Tim Drake, though now its Drake-Wayne. We met at the circus and our families took a picture together. You promised to do your quadruple flip just for me.” Last time Tim had told Dick the same thing and the kid wouldn’t stop hugging him. In all his energetic glory Tim was defenceless against his random hugs from nowhere. While it gave him the trust and endearment Tim needed to look after him Tim found the boy exhausting at best. “Do you remember?”   
~~~~  
“OH MY GOSH YOU WERE THAT KID?” Dick exclaimed, “You were TINY! Like LITERALLY! Holy COW did you ever GROW!” Dick did remember, and he was bounding up and down in place, he wanted to hug this young boy who he met in his past who would become a future Robin, but he was soaking wet. Also, he REALLY wanted to jump off the top of the falls now.

“This is almost literally adorable, he doesn’t even know what to do with himself babybird.” Jason said elbowing Tim gently. “Bless.”

Dick looked between the two of them, then over to Damian and just blurted out, “ROBINS!” as though that somehow explained things.  
~~~~  
Damian raised a brow and leaned a bit away from the over excited boy. He could do anything at any minute and Damian wasn’t sure if it was a threat or not. He went with not judging by the way Drake held himself. “Comparatively he’s still tiny.” He jabbed at Tim. Damian might be the smallest at the moment due solely to his age but he was already much larger than Tim had been at this age and that just made his grin all the more.

“You can hug me when you’re dry.” Tim sighed and tried to ignore BOTH of the morons and poking Jason in the ribs for the elbowing. “You should hug Jason though. He never gets hugs. He’s too busy being an ass.”   
~~~~  
Dick noted the profanity, the lack of malice behind it, and with no further urging dove to hug Jason around the middle. It was, he thought, a bit like hugging a younger Bruce than he was used to. Warm flesh, hard muscle, deep rolling laugh against his ear pressed to the other’s stomach. Big hands coming up to hug him back, smaller than Bruce’s were, even in his time, but still.

And somehow, Dick knew. He recognized the faint tightness in the gut he was pressed against, the tightness of someone unused to affection, and understood that this Robin was an orphan, like the rest of them. Save Damian who at the least had a father, most likely a mother too, but Dick didn’t want to press her subject enough to find out if she was alive or if her choice of profession had gotten the better of her yet.

Dick didn’t really know what to do with that, so he set it aside and suggested, “If we wait long enough, what are the odds Alfred will show up with swim trunks for you two?”  
~~~~  
The cave echoed with the sound of laughter. It was a rare moment, all of them laughing together. Damian could only remember it happening once before and it didn’t feel as light as this did. 

“High.” Damian answered. The chances of the man showing up magically with everything they needed happened often enough they could bet on it. It’s why they all had such undying faith in the man. Well one of many reasons.

“Sorry, I have reports to finish.” Tim chimed in. No way was he getting roped into this again. “Damian and Jason can play with you, I’ve had my turn. I have too much work to get done to get worn out by you. Whatever you do, don’t give him sugar. It’s like pouring water on magnesium.”  
~~~~  
Dick sputtered, almost grabbing Tim’s arm and trying to convince him to stay. “Wait though I-” Dick cut himself off and tried again, “I get to hug you once we’re done swimming, you promised and it’s just going to be all the more because you’re being a stick in the mud about playing with us now.” Dick said, in a kind of threat that was in fact, not threatening at all. And yet…

“Gotta let Tim go, he’s a busy boy, running a company at his age.” Jason assured Dick, stripping off his jacket and deciding that he didn’t actually NEED swim trunks to be able to have a swim. He could go commando later with little problems.

“Tim runs a COMPANY?!” Dick asked, nothing short of flabbergasted, “What IS it with these new Robins and growing up so much!” Dick pointed decisively at Tim, “YOU are definitely playing with us soon. Just to prove you still remember how.”  
~~~~  
“He only runs Wayne Enterprises for now.” Damian huffed. “My father’s company will be in my hands soon enough.”

“You already run the financials, and we agreed to share remember?” Tim snapped back. They had made that choice after Ra’s had tried to take over the company. If both of them owned it it would be a lot harder for Ra’s to get it. It was in everyone’s best interest. Tim turned to Dick ignoring the urge to fuss at Jason for not waiting for Alfred. “I remember and know how to play, I just don't have the endless energy you do Dick but sure. I promise we’ll play later and take lots of pictures.” Tim smiled, blackmail wasn’t his thing but rubbing this all in older Dick’s face and sharing it with Babs proved to be beyond fun last time. The cooing is what had done the older man in.  
~~~~  
“Cool!” Dick said, nodding. With his demands met he was relatively okay with not having yet hugged this Robin (he was still soaking wet) and letting him get to (blegh) work. Seriously though, school was bad enough, how did Tim do WORK at his age? Dick was sure he’d break out in actual HIVES. “Remember you promised!” Dick said, turning for the wall of the falls and climbing, he had to jump off it now.

“Cannonball first!” Jason called after Dick as he climbed, and Dick obliged the request, creating a huge splash as he hit the water. “Next, do a Jack knife. Try and touch your toes.” Jason suggested as Dick came up for air.  
~~~~  
“The new financial file is ready and updated for mondays meeting.” Damian mentioned as he watched the boy swim back to the edge of the pool. “I suggest going over it. There is also an accompanying file on one of the shareholders. He’s been embezzling money from the company to pay for his gambling debt and whores that he likes to smack around. I’ve been grounded for the near future so I’m leaving this to you.”

“It’ll be dealt with.” Tim promised. Jason turned toward them with a smile and a comment on his lips about how he’ll help when Tim cut him off. “Not you. I’ll handle it myself, thanks.” Jason gave an almost offended look till Tim added. “This one’s personal. You didn’t have to face him four times a week.” 

“Fair point.” Jason shrugged.  
~~~~  
Dick listened, thinking about how much OLDER than himself all of his successors seemed. In a way it made sense, they were his future successors, but the word successor implied they came after him and he couldn’t help but understand that the Robin he was at that moment wasn’t the same caliber of Robin these were. He wanted to ask if he would BECOME the kind of Robin that these others might aspire to, but felt self conscious about the question in front of these new, older boys. After a moment’s introspection, Dick realized he didn’t want to be seen as less in front of them, which both made sense to him and didn’t.

Heavy thoughts seemed to weigh him down on his climb back up the falls, so he set them aside and applied himself where he was adept, his acrobatics. He performed a perfect Jacknife dive, touching his toes and everything, but when he came up, the others were still looking pretty serious. Knowing he couldn’t contribute, Dick decided to lighten the mood, “Damian, let’s do backflips next!”  
~~~~  
“Go.” Tim nodded towards the young boy in the pool. He could tell Dick was feeling left out by both the tone of voice and distraction he was trying. It was something Dick had always done when he was feeling out of place. They all did, mostly because they’d learned it from Dick. “Have fun.” Tim added and smiled. “At least until Dick totally shows you guys up in acrobatics.” 

“Thats a taunt I’m not falling for.” Damian snapped as Tim shrugged and walked off. “This isn’t a contest, Todd. Don't make it one.” Damian pointed at the man dangerously then at Dick. Everything had been fun and not a competition up until that point and Damian found he wanted it to continue on that way.   
~~~~  
“Who on earth said anything about a competition?” Jason said with overdone innocence that told volumes of it’s falsehood. “I do believe you were invited to do some friendly backflips off the waterfall.”

Dick only laughed at Jason’s obvious posturing and was on his way up to the top of the falls again. He waited for Damian and threw a deliberate smile at the other boy, wanting reassurance more than anything. “Ready?” Dick asked, standing with his heels to the edge of the falls, knees bent.  
~~~~  
“-tt-” Damian glared at Jason for a moment before climbing up the falls. Making it to the top he grumbled a bit of advice to the younger boy. “Don't listen to him, he’s an idiot. A pestering one at that.”

He lined up with Dick at the edge. “Ready when you are.”  
~~~~  
“Okay, three, two…” Dick sucked in a breath and jumped backwards off the cliff, giving himself enough spin to flip once entirely in midair before hitting water. He’d gotten a glimpse of Damian as they had descended, the other was excellent at this just like everyhing else it seemed.

“I heard that, lil D. This cavern carries sound too well.” Jason called out, grinning as the two younger boys came up for air. He laughed, it was sort of like watching the children’s olympics, he felt like he should be holding up score cards. He really would do it, if he’d had the paper for it. When Alfred turned up with swim trunks and a change of clothes for all three of them Jason was nearly tempted to ask for the paper, but decided not to. He slipped off his underwear and put on the swim trunks Alfred had brought him, discreetly moving his jacket to cover the back gun harness he’d slipped off while Dick hadn’t been looking. Jason didn’t want to show this young, innocent Dick that he carried the one thing Bruce was so vehemently against. This was the Dick that they were held to standard after all. Jason thanked Alfred for the trouble and stood. “Betcha the two of you are too chicken to belly flop with me!” Jason teased gently.

“I’m not chicken!” Dick called out already pulling himself out of the water.  
~~~~  
“-tt- Your pathetic attempts to bait me are useless Jason, and I wasn’t whispering. It’s not like its a secret.” Damian followed Dick out of the water. Once standing he crossed his arms glaring at Jason playfully but speaking mostly to Dick. “Don't let him trick you into something painful for his own sick amusement. You’ll have to find another way to pass the time, Todd.” Of all diving exercises the belly flop was deemed the most horrendous in Damian’s book. Painful to both watch and do. “Besides I don't see you diving. Why not, as you say, ‘put your money where your mouth is?’” If Jason wanted to belly flop, who was Damian to stop him. “By all means, show us how its done.”  
~~~~  
“Come on Dickie, Let’s show this stick in the mud how to have fun.” Jason said, giving Dick’s wet hair a ruffle. Dick laughed and followed Jason, undaunted by the idea of belly flopping into the water, it was still fun. They climbed and now that Dick was alone and standing next to Jason he could finally see how much bigger and taller the other was. “Do I grow up like that?” Dick asked without thinking.

“Taller than me, not as big by just a bit, but it works for you ‘cause of your fighting style.” Jason replied with a grin, he backed away from the edge, “I’m going for the run up, you?”

Dick grinned right back, “Let’s DO it!” and Dick too moved away from the edge, there wasn’t much farther to back into, but what room they had they used. Dick didn’t need to count them in, when Jason sucked in a breath Dick did just the same and they leapt off the edge together.

The landing stung, but it always did, and it was funny so the sting was, in Jason’s opinion, worth it. they came up for air laughing and groaning equally.  
~~~~  
Damian tried and failed to quell the flinch he knew was coming the second they hit the water. It was like watching a cartoon character hit a wall only louder and far more painful. Damian had heard Dick ask Jason about his height and wondered again just how much was safe to tell him and if Jason wondered the same thing. The thought was chased away by their laughter. Damian might not share the joke but he certainly found their laughter infectious enough to smile. “Brilliant maneuver.” He quipped. “Whats next? Back flopping?” He dipped his foot in and splashed at the two.   
~~~~  
“Oh!” Dick called but Jason cut that off quickly.

“Nu-uh, not from the falls, you wanna back flop do it from the pool’s edge so you don’t fu-- hurt your neck.” Jason blushed vaguely, he didn’t typically cuss in front of kids, Damian being the obvious exception. Mini-demonhead could mouth off some uncouth phrases in more than just english or spanish. Aside from his native Arabic, Jason was sure that Damian spoke all the major European languages, Chinese, Japanese, Russian and Vietnamese. “But now that I’m here I’m surprised at you Dick. You haven’t asked me to help you fly.”

“I don’t need anyone’s help to fly.” Dick said simply, grinning wide and pushing his hair out of his eyes.

“Not a good choice of words.” Jason relented, “Here. Like this.” Jason said beckoning Dick out of the water. Dick followed, and as soon as he was standing Jason grabbed him under the armpits and threw him back into the pool. Jason laughed good naturedly, “Haha, oh his FACE.” as Dick came up for air, laughing too.

“Again! Do it again! This kinda flying is fun too!”  
~~~~  
Damian happily laughed along. Dick’s surprised face at being lifted and tossed into the pool was priceless. He was thankful there were cameras in the cave to capture this moment. Spur of the moment Damian did a running side flip into the pool doing his best to aim his splash at Dick. Coming up for air he smiled. This day was turning out to be awesome. It was getting easy to just be young around Dick. Just have fun and enjoy the moment. If Damian was honest with himself it just endeared Dick to him all the more. He swam back to the edge of the pool without a word.  
~~~~  
“We have a pool noodle? How have you not been all over this thing Dickie?” Jason asked, tossing the green styrofoam tube into the pool.

“Well, what’s it for?” Dick asked. He’d never seen one before, but his question, at least visually, answered itself. 

“It’s a pool float, and it’s great for other things too, watch.” Jason took one end of the pool float and ducked under water, angling the other end of the pool noodle at dick Jason blew hard and water splashed out like the elephants used to do back at Haley’s circus. Dick laughed and splashed Jason when he came up for air. “It’s just about getting your ingenuity on. You’re good at that though.” Dick was happy to hear that because he had no idea what the word ingenuity meant off the top of his head. He was sure he’d learn it soon, but damnit he was only 10 years old.


	9. Chapter 9

There was movement behind Alfred as he finished tidying up Bruce’s bedroom, picking up the random articles of clothing and collecting them to be washed and mended. “Master Bruce, it would do you better to get some more sleep, you did turn in rather late for you this morning.”  
~~~~  
“I can’t sleep Alfred.” Bruce sighed. He felt so off at the moment. Seeing and talking to such a young Dick was throwing him through a loop and down memory lane. Things had changed so much over the years. The years hadn't been kind to any of them and seeing Dick so young, full of hope, wonder, and faith it showed just how dark, angry, and hurt they’d all become. The lack of communication or the wrong kind that had created such a large void filled with all the things Bruce wish he had and hadn't said or done. It plagued him to think what would happen if he left him in this darker version of the world. What would happen to his little light and ball of joy? 

“I have to fix this.”  
~~~~  
Alfred pursed his lips in a silent yet obvious commentary on what he felt about Bruce’s eternal poor sleeping habits. Now was not the time to lay into the man however. It took an experienced eye and a lifetime of watching the other man, but Alfred could gauge Bruce down to the smallest flicker of emotion. However, how much he could do about these emotions was extremely limited. Telling Bruce now about how running himself into the ground helped no one would fall on deaf ears. Reassurances would be appreciated, but brushed off, Bruce wanted to work now. No, Bruce NEEDED to work now, Alfred saw, he needed to make progress on the problem. He needed to save Dick.

 

“I’ll have some food brought down to the lab.” Alfred told Bruce. He gathered up all the laundry into a basket he’d brought, the mending on top to be dropped off at the sewing machine first. He’d have to prepare something that wouldn’t spoil quickly as Bruce would neglect the food brought to him for hours. Or he could simply wait to bring the food down. Alfred contemplated his options as he moved down to the laundry room.  
~~~~  
“Thank you Alfred.” Bruce said as Alfred left. Quickly dressing he headed for the cave. He found Tim right where he expected him to be. At one of the work stations. Before he even got to the console he heard the sounds of young voices, particularly those of Damian and Dick, who he specifically remembered telling to stay out of the cave. Angry at being disobeyed he was headed to the boys before he even knew it, hearing Tim call his name. He ignored him. He’d given an order and he expected to be obeyed. He had good reasons for Dick to not be down here.

Rounding the corner he caught sight of the boys, not just Damian and Dick but Jason as well. Jason had a pool noodle and was spraying the two other boys who were taking turns using the other noodle and splashing him back. The sight wasn't what stopped him dead in his tracks or what dissipated his anger. 

It was Damian’s laugh. 

A full blown gut laugh as Dick had splashed Jason before smacking him with the noodle and tossing Jason’s to Damian. Jason had a look of amused mock betrayal on his face and Damian was laughing. Laughing like a kid. Laughing and playing. They’d been trying for years to get Damian to open up. To get him to play and laugh even a little to no avail. Yet there he was. Playing and laughing. Tim was now standing next to him watching the scene as well.   
~~~~  
“I did try to tell you.” Tim said quietly, “Everything is fine. Damian knows better than to let Dick near the archives. Dick just wanted to play in the waterfall.” Tim smiled and tugged on Bruce’s arm, “Now get out of sight before he spots you and tries to pretend he’s dignified and adult.”

Jason had noticed, but he’d had a better angle on Bruce’s entrance. Deliberately dunking Damian, Jason gave a mocking half salute to the two sticks in the mud while Damian couldn’t see. His greeting done he moved away from where he’d submerged Damian, ready to be retaliated against and already laughing. He hoped the little wing hadn’t noticed his father. that would ruin all the progress Dick had made.  
~~~~

Bruce ducked back out of sight with a small smile, giving one last look. Damian dove for Jason. Bruce backed off and looked to Tim for an explanation. “What brought that on? How?”  
~~~~  
Tim opened his mouth, heard the playful arabic curses and Dick’s excited pleas to know what Damian had said and choked on a laugh. “Dick has meta powers?” he suggested with a shrug. “I couldn’t begin to tell you. Dick just is.”  
~~~~  
Bruce nodded and chuckled. “I’d forgotten just how he was.” He listened to the laughter and sounds of splashing and it made his chest feel tight. He could remember playing in the falls with Dick. Dick had been the one to convince him to play in the first place. It had been after a hard week and Bruce had started to brood. Dick somehow had pulled him out of it and into the falls. The experience had been an uplifting one. 

Suddenly an awful thought just occurred to him. What will happen to Damian when Dick changes back? Will he backtrack and lose all the progress? It was disheartening to know the outcome for his son but leaving Dick like this would destroy him and Bruce couldn’t have that either. He wondered what to do. How to save them both?  
~~~~  
“Worry about that stuff when reversing what was done to Dick becomes a reliable possibility.” Tim said, reading the minute tells from Bruce’s face. He didn’t know which worry of the few dozen Tim had come up with had just hit Bruce, but that didn’t matter in the end. They would worry about the what if’s when those if’s became relevant. At the moment the only thing that mattered to Bruce was fixing the device. Tim understood that, he and Damian largely were handling WE anyways and Jason and Steph were going to split Nightwing’s patrol for the time being. A forged doctor’s note on how Dick had contracted something contagious had already been sent to Dick’s precinct this morning. Tim’s ‘cousin’ was visiting him was the current cover story ready to feed to the media if it became necessary and Zatanna was already volunteering her services in the effort to help Dick.

Not that Bruce was likely to go for it. Bruce didn’t care for magic, and would insist that since it was technology that had altered Dick, there was no sense to mix technology with magic as it often ended badly. Even then, there was an entire horde of brilliant engineers, technology buffs, scientists who could help rebuild the device. Bruce would still repair the device himself though, Tim knew. It was Bruce’s way. Hell, it was Tim’s way too, but he knew how to ask for help. Bruce had forgotten over the years it seemed.  
~~~~  
Bruce nodded and hardened his resolve. Saving Dick and putting things right had to be his main concern. He hated to have to admit that Damian’s problems would again have to take a backseat to this bigger issue. He headed for the console where the lab work on Dick’s tests should be finished. “Lets get to work.” 

In the alcove Damian stopped as he heard his father’s voice echo from somewhere in the cave.   
~~~~  
Dick was attempting to climb onto Jason’s shoulders and jump off him when he noticed damian go still. Letting himself drop back into the water, Dick hugged Jason’s neck from behind and asked, “Damian? What’s up?” Inwardly Jason rolled his eyes. DAMN that kid’s assassin training.  
~~~~  
The sound of footsteps retreating had him confused. What did it mean? His father had been there. Seen them in the falls most likely... but didn’t say anything at all. If he was mad he would have said something right? He wanted to ask Jason what it meant. He hated to admit it but he looked up to Jason. Jason understood him in ways that the others didn’t. Was this ok? Had he done something wrong? He had been acting immature, maybe he didn’t approve? Damian HATED the silent treatment when his father was angry with him or worse disappointed. He hadn’t noticed when exactly he’d balled his hands into fists. but he could feel the pain of his nails pressing in hard to his palm. “It... my uh...” What should he say?  
~~~~  
“Nothing’s wrong Dickie-bird.” Jason said staring hard at Damian, trying to convey with his eyes that Damian shouldn’t feel the distress he was obviously going through. “Little wing is just a super specially trained ninja kid and he heard something that caught his attention.” Jason patted Dick’s leg, “Probably just a silly, groggy bat heading to a different part of the cave.” Jason gave Damian a reassuring smile. “I thought you were going to try to jump off my head or something?”

“Not your HEAD, that’d hurt you, just your shoulders.” Dick asserted, “Besides, you’d wobble and overbalance me and then I’d fall and I don’t fall.” Dick began his climbing again, “I have Excellent balance.” he asserted, sounding almost as haughty as Damian could get.  
~~~~  
Damian relaxed what felt like a ton, a metric ton of weight lifted. Jason was sure nothing was wrong and if Jason was sure he could go with that. He’d had a point too. His father hadn’t said a thing and may have just been checking out the noise they were making before heading to the console or whatever he chose to do. Damian felt like he could breathe again. He looked to Jason and willed the man to understand his next question even as he grinned at Dick’s huffy tone, one he didn't want to voice, ‘Was acting this way ok?’   
~~~~  
“Yeah sure kid. No worries.” Jason said, winking at Damian. “It’s all good, just give it a shot.”  
~~~~  
Taking a deep breath he tried to relax back into the frame of mind he’d been in before he’d heard his father. He got a brilliant idea to help with his mood. Using the cave wall he jumped at Dick grabbing him around the legs, tackling him into the water. ‘How’s that for balance?’ he thought, coming up for air.   
~~~~  
Dick saw the moves and STILL didn’t predict the action as he fell back into the water, he’d expected another underwater wrestling match but Damian immediately let him go. Dick hadn’t had a chance to get much air so he swam to the surface to gulp air, sputter and laugh until his sides hurt. “You’re NUTS!” Dick exclaimed, “It’s the best!”  
~~~~  
Damian cocked his head to the side confused for a moment before a smile broke out on his face. “Takes one to know one as you’ve said.” He mumbled embarrassed but happy by Dick’s compliment. Chuckling he splashed at Dick in a goad to play more. It felt good and right again to interact with Dick this way. It took a second to register that even in his mind the other was no longer Grayson, just Dick. That felt good and right too.


	10. Chapter 10

“You know, I really don’t think that Dick encouraging Damian’s more psychotic traits is advisable.” Tim said in a light tone as he tweezed a piece of circuitry apart and brought it over to where they were displaying the schematics. “This looks salvageable, but if I’m reading the schematic right, it’s part of the cooling system so the unit doesn’t overheat while operating. Hardly anything that’s going to make reconstructing a de-aging machine any easier.” Tim moved the piece to the table where all the schematics were laid out on a table and placed the green board in it’s appropriate location. “This might be jumping the gun some, but, regarding testing…” Tim hesitated, “I think after using the machine on an inanimate object for proof of concept, we might start with a plant first before moving on to an invertebrate and vertebrates.”  
~~~~  
A small smile graced Bruce’s face completely without his permission. “Perhaps he’ll influence those traits into a more productive and sane direction.” Looking over the schematics he agreed with Tim’s assessment of the part. “I’m considering simply constructing one from scratch following the plans. I hate to think I could do it better than the team currently working on it at Star Labs. I believe, that would be my ego speaking, however.” Bruce pulled apart a section of plastic revealing a section of wires. It would take an hour at the least to figure out which were which since the wires were all colored the same. It made his eyebrow twitch in annoyance. He hated it when bad guys got cheeky.  
~~~~  
“It might actually be easier to reconstruct from scratch than to tweeze it apart like this.” Tim said discarding a fried circuit breaker with a distasteful huff, “The notes and schematics provided to us were extremely thorough, we could attain the materials necessary and you could construct while I wrote the code.” Tim offered, “Quite frankly I’d rather pursue that avenue, because at this point I really kind of want to chuck this thing into a volcano.” Tim chuckled weakly.  
~~~~  
“However you put it this device isn't going to work.” Bruce agreed. “The prototypes being made at Star Labs will be finished in a day or two but that isn't why we’re doing this and you know it.” The key point Bruce had always made was ‘go over everything with a fine tooth comb. Just because the notes look complete doesn't mean they actually are and that nothing was changed or altered from them’. It was a lesson he drove home time and time again. You could never predict what might have changed or what the creator might have left out of their notes in order to protect their work and make themselves valuable.  
~~~~  
Tim sighed, “I know.” Tim glared at the circuit breaker before moving it into the pile with the other ones. There were several, and with little to no sure way to know for sure where each came from, they would be assigned to the schematic later after everything else was laid out. “I know.”

Tim glared at a stray wire. Next to no way to know for sure where this little bit came from either. Evil little thing probably frayed off on purpose just to annoy him. “I still wanna chuck the whole thing into a volcano though.” Tim was struck with a thought, “This technology, even after we use it to help Dick… it’s way too dangerous to be kept. CAN I throw it into a volcano when we’re done with it?”  
~~~~  
“I will fly you there myself.” Bruce groaned figuring out that three cables were tied into one and it would be hell pulling them apart and worse figuring out what they did. He set them down in their spot on the large table that was quickly filling with the junk pieces. Going back to his chunk of, well... crap he pulled of a shred of metal to find something interesting underneath. Picking up a set of needle nose pliers he pulled the piece off and inspected it. 

“Found the RAM and it looks useable.” He pulled over the light magnifying glass and looked closer. “We might be able to pull some things off of it. I found the processor and it’s in about the same shape.”  
~~~~  
“Partials help.” Tim said nodding. “We unearth the motherboard and I’ll be in business once the hard drive is repaired.” Tim wanted to start running simulations as soon as possible. Everything else was practical mechanics for the actual process, something they weren’t ready for in the slightest. “I should check on it actually.” Tim moved away to where the hard drive was running through a machine to repair the physical damage done to it, patent pending. (Or it would be if Bruce would let him patent the design.)   
~~~~  
Pinching the bridge of his nose Bruce sighed against the forming headache. Too much work and not enough sleep. Coffee would help. He considered it for a moment then decided to wait for Alfred to come down. There was no chance he was going to mess with the coffee maker after being banned from it. He set the RAM aside. It would have to be repaired as well. 

He looked at the pile of computer chips, wiring, and metal hunks of unknowns. “We might have to X-ray some of these. I doubt we’ll get them apart without further damaging them.”   
~~~~  
“Well, that’s wonderful.” Tim said with thinly veiled sarcasm. The harddrive was about sixty percent done, nothing further to be done about that. “As soon as we’re done with the hunting and tweezing I’ll fire up the X-ray machine.” Tim said. “All of the really important components are probably in one or another of those hunks of metal. NO shielding from when the power supply blew. Classic sign of a prototype, which corroborates the explanation that Star Labs gave us, though it doesn’t rule out other prototypes having been made and kept hidden.” Tim moved to the Bat computer, “The background check came back for Dr. Harcourt. the inventor. The in-depth one I should say, not the biographical paragraph that Star Labs provides on the website. No serious red flags for the most part. Typical divorce, wife left her after one too many times of being second fiddle to Dr. Harcourt’s work. That could be an issue still if Dr. Harcourt is still broken up about it. Her bank records don’t show any strange or unexpected withdrawals or deposits.

“By and large it seems like she’s on the up and up. Her records indicate that she was designing a device that could send an object backwards in it’s own time stream. She sites possible usages for her device as rejuvenating fossil fuels and things like nuclear reactor cores. Green energy without remodeling our power companies. Easily weaponizable even without the ‘fountain of youth’ angle…. This device was never meant for human experimentation.” Tim swallowed the rest of his words. That it could have killed Dick, that if it had been Damian it might have taken him back to before he was born, that they had no assurances that the process could even be reversed because the original device hadn’t been designed for it.  
~~~~  
Bruce was silent in the face of the words they both just weren’t saying. The possibilities of what if’s would drive them both mad. He had to live in the here and now. Bruce looked at the background check and info on Dr. Harcourt. There were a few points in the woman's life that could have been the stressor that led to her actions, however, Tim was right. Things were on the up and up. Almost anything was within reach... So why? Why cause all the trouble? “We need to talk to Dr. Harcourt. We need to know the end game.”  
~~~~  
“Why do you think that Steph isn’t in here suffocating Dick between her boobs and squealing?” Tim asked, a small grin on his face. “We’d hoped you would have slept for a bit longer so we could have had more progress for you when you woke up.” Tim picked up a rhombus shaped crystal. “Looks like a shard of the focus lens.” he set it into a petri dish for analysis. “Have we ruled out robbery or conspiracy to illegally sell this technology?”  
~~~~  
“No.” Bruce answered. “Something doesn’t add up with this. Judging from this, there’s not a single stressor that would lead to this behavior from the doctor.” Staring into the date Bruce let his mind wander on possibilities and add up what leads they did have. “Do you have the security feed from her lab? Who removed the device?”  
~~~~  
“Security was jammed, harshly. They fried the system so bad it set off a secondary alarm. Which is what alerted the police and us.” All behavior points to the doc’s innocence. But why would the thieves shoot three security guards, a janitor and an intern and leave Dr. Harcourt alive? Tied up and in a supply room, but ligature marks on her wrists are nothing compared to the others.” Tim read off the hospitals latest records, “One dead, two critical, one needing three blood transfusions, and the intern’s going to lose greater dexterity in his left hand and arm.” Tim pulled up incident reports at Star Labs, “Looks like that particular intern and Dr. Harcourt didn’t get along. Sexual harassment complaints set against her, charges thrown out due to her obvious sexuality. She accused him of attempting to steal research. Those charges were dropped due to lack of evidence.” Tim frowned, “Was that random? Or did the Doctor ask a favor of her thieves for hire?”  
~~~~  
“Its possible.” Bruce glared at the screen. “I’m not getting that impression though. She was genuinely surprised to hear that the prototype was stolen from the locked vault room it’d been stored in. We need the information Batgirl has before making that assumption, however.” Bruce huffed. “We need more evidence and to talk to the survivors. Other than her not being severely injured nothing else points to her involvement. Bank activity is normal, phone use is limited and every number accounted for. The police are sorting through her belongings as we speak.” Bruce sighed. At this point all they could do is wait for more information. Bruce hated waiting for answers.   
~~~~  
Tim looked at all the work they’d done and sighed. “Twenty minutes to X-ray all the metal chunks then we’re going to run out of work to do.” Tim moved to the inter house phone, “Alfred?” Tim smiled, “Yes actually, that would be great. No, we’ve about wrapped up here. Sure. Twenty minutes? Perfect. Thanks Alfred.”

“We’re going to finish work then play with the children. Jason included.” Tim declared. “It’ll be good for you.”  
~~~~  
Bruce raised an amused eyebrow. “Just when did you become the parent?” He joked putting the chunks of metal in order and in plastic bins to be separated and labeled before being added to the pile to be x-rayed.   
~~~~  
“Every time Alfred leaves the room.” Tim retorted with a grin, moving to sort the metal bits with Bruce. “Lunch and changes of clothes are being brought down for us, hopefully Dick will only be be slightly impossible to send to bed if we can keep him active.”  
~~~~  
Bruce took a breath at the memory of trying to get Dick to bed. It took years to figure out he had to be worn out first. “Perhaps I should allow them to play on the equipment... or the trapeze?”   
~~~~  
“The Gym area would probably be a good idea.” Tim agreed. “I could ref a basketball game maybe?” Jason would love a basketball game, and he and Bruce would have a distinct advantage. “I only say me because I have a board meeting I have to be up early for in the morning.” Tim moved to the X-ray machine and started it up, inputting the settings necessary for accurate pictures.   
~~~~  
“Though that sounds good in theory, I’m not convinced Damian wouldn’t take it too seriously.” Bruce pointed out as he labeled another tray of parts. “He’s too competitive to take it as just the game it would be. I believe he would see it as a test of skill and losing would not be an option.”  
~~~~  
“If you watch the outdoor security tapes, Damian played catch with Tidus and Dick today.” Tim said casually, “Any other day I’d agree with you Bruce, but Dick is magic. Especially when he’s too young for Damian to try and take him seriously.” Tim thought about it, “Maybe tomorrow we’ll try for a team sport.”

“No FAIR Jay!” Dick could be heard throughout the cave. “No playing keep away when you’re so freakishly tall!”  
~~~~  
Bruce chuckled leaning over the table before outright laughing. Dick had always been too precious for words, making him laugh. He was just so... Dick. “Maybe soccer would be more fair.” Then Jason wouldn’t play keep away just by standing and Damian would get to be competitive without the concern of contact.  
~~~~  
Tim nodded, “Better plan.” Tim agreed.

“ATTACK!”

“Should we intervene?” Tim asked, looking towards the opening to the waterfall. There were sounds of squawking boys and splashing.  
~~~~  
“You shouldn’t announce your intentions.” Damian’s voice chimed out.

“OW HEY!” Jason’s shout was heard in tandem with loud splashing.

“See its much more effective.” Damian’s voice was full of glee and Dick’s laughter was heard. 

“No.” Bruce smiled looking at a monitor with the three of them jumping about playing keep away from Jason. “Let them have this one.” He was glad the camera’s recorded everything. It would be a shame to miss this.  
~~~~  
Tim ran the X-ray machine as carefully as he could while trying not to giggle.

“It sounds quite lively down here.” Alfred said genially, carrying a covered serving tray over a small hamper of neatly folded clothes and spare towels. “You will of course remind young Master Dick that he should wait at minimum a half hour after eating before swimming again, won’t you Master Tim? Not that he’ll listen to anyone.”

“Do our best Alfred, thanks.” Tim said taking the tray. “Hey, my swim trunks,” Tim exclaimed, “Alfred you’re awesome.”

“One does try his level best Master Tim.” Alfred said jokingly.  
~~~~  
“Getting more lively by the second.” Bruce muttered in answer. “Thank you Alfred. I’m sure Dick will see reason if you promise those perfectly made cookies of yours for after dinner.” It had long since been a joke between Dick and Bruce. Bruce would say the cookies were solely for Dick but when Alfred wasn’t looking usually took as many as Dick would, then pretend to fuss at Dick for eating too many.

Bruce nodded Tim away from the x-ray machine. “You go eat. I’ve got this. Also Alfred some coffee wouldn't go amiss.”   
~~~~  
Alfred nodded, “Some more sleep on your part would be better, but as that is not going to happen, I shall feed your caffeine addiction Master Bruce.” Alfred teased gently, “The coffee is already brewed and on the second tray. The Arabic blend, as I’m sure Master Damian will desire a cup after he smells it.”

Tim grabbed his swim trunks and noticed Bruce’s under his own. “Awesome.” Tim cackled, throwing the trunks over his shoulder and picking up the tray and carrying it over to the falls.  
~~~~  
“I have no idea what addiction you’re referring to.” Bruce grinned slyly. “Though I’m worried Damian is gaining an addiction to coffee. Which has be been favoring more, the Arabic coffee or the Jasmine and herb blend tea?” 

Bruce fed the last of the items into the machine. He’d noticed Tim take the swim trunks, both of them, with him to the falls. Alfred simply knew Bruce was going to be roped into playing with his children. One way or another. “Thank you Alfred.”  
~~~~  
“Master Damian is an avid drinker of his exotic, hard to procure, and expensive teas when on his own.” Alfred assured Bruce with a small sniff. “I believe the misconception comes from the fact that when you both have coffee he will drink coffee with you.” Alfred moved to the elevator that connected to the kitchen to fetch the other tray. He could have enlisted Bruce to come and carry it, he mused, as it would be extremely heavy with two pots, one of coffee, one of hot water, and a set of mugs, with tea leaves, milk and sugar. However Alfred would do no such thing, he wasn’t getting old after all.


	11. Chapter 11

“Come and get it!” Tim called. setting the covered tray down and lifting the domed lid, five six inch grilled subs steamed up at him “Oh, Alfred, you are a SAINT.” Tim murmured.

“Alfred is an angel sent from heaven.” Dick corrected, pulling himself out of the pool and moving to the food. “Which one’s mine?”

“I know mine!” Jason said, also moving to the food, grabbing the sandwich that had obvious evidence of a generous hand with the tabasco sauce.  
~~~~  
Bruce sat on that thought. On the concept of a shared drink, coffee or otherwise, with his son. That Damian would choose to have coffee simply because he had. It was a shared closeness that Bruce hadn't even been aware of and now it seemed glaringly obvious. Bruce wondered if he’d missed that what else had he missed? A lot apparently. Dick had been right. He’d gotten closed off. What was he going to do about it?

“This one.” Damian pointed out Dick’s sandwich and picked up his own. Roast beef with Au jus sauce on the side.   
~~~~  
Dick took his sandwich and bit into it happily, “MM!” he hummed in appreciation. He had no idea what Alfred had put in his sandwich but it was excellent. swallowing Tim looked down at the tray, “There are five sandwiches, who else is coming? Another Robin?” Dick asked, excitedly. All the Robins he’d met so far were awesome, he sort of wanted to there to be more Robins, more friends he could make in the future.

“While there is one former Robin you haven’t met yet, she doesn’t eat black olives.” Jason said between bites.

“SHE?!” Dick was floored. “A GIRL Robin?” Dick found something unexpected happened, he was stunned into actual silence.

That didn’t last long. “Wait, then who’s the fifth sandwich for?”

“A whole minute. I’ve got to tell Babs.” Tim said, chucking.

“Babs?”  
~~~~  
“I thought you knew each other when you were young.” Damian said confused. “And yes, Brown was Robin before me for a time but is now since Batgirl.” Damian stopped mid bite and looked at Jason. “Shouldn't we be more careful with this information?”  
~~~~  
“Hey, I said girl. You’re the one name dropping and giving current aliases.” Jason shrugged, “If the kid remembers then we’ll all just have to rely on his ability to play dumb.” Jason grinned at Tim, “I’m not too worried.”

“Yup, I’m a great act- HEY!” Dick narrowed his eyes at Jason, “I caught that.” Jason chuckled, taking a bite of his sandwich  
~~~~  
“It isn't the first name or alias thats been dropped.” Damian shrugged. “I also have faith in his ability to act like a fool. I believe you took far too many lessons from father’s public image.”

“Alright.” Bruce boomed from the console. “Be nice.” Bruce left the machine to run the x-ray’s and create a 3D model of the parts to join the others down by the falls. “Dick has always had an outstanding acting ability when it matters.”  
~~~~  
“Hey, Look who’s up!” Jason said for Dick’s benefit, “Come on over, your breakfast is getting cold.” Jason gestured to the fifth sandwich.

“Okay, so if the sandwich is Bruce’s then who is Babs?” Dick asked after swallowing.

“A friend.” Tim said quickly, “She helps us out a bunch.”

“But she’s not a Robin.” Dick said, but it was still in part a question.  
~~~~  
“No she isn't.” Bruce said in a way that meant ‘You really shouldn't be asking questions.’ Walking silently over out of habit Bruce took his own sandwich and bit into the sweet onion and teriyaki chicken delight. He looked at Dick and watched out of the corner of his eye at Damian who was looking back and forth between them sensing an unvoiced conversation.

Bruce wouldn't say no to Dick asking questions. Dick had been right. He was his partner and deserved to know some things and at this point Bruce was sure the answers wouldn't harm him. However he didn't see the fun in telling them that just yet.  
~~~~  
Dick, seeing Damian’s, ‘What’s he mean by that?’ face made his own, ‘How should I know he’s YOUR dad!’ face and took another bite of his sandwich. Dick looked over at Tim, eyes pleading for help.  
~~~~  
Amused Tim grinned around his mouth full of food and made a ‘aren't you going to ask him anyway’ eyebrow raise and look in Bruce’s direction and back at Dick. 

Understanding dawned on Damian as he watched. ‘Dick always challenged Bruce.’ He’d remember Tim saying once. ‘Unlike us Dick was his partner, Bruce’s brother more than his son. B see’s us more as his kids and thats why Dick gets away with challenging him far more than we do.’   
~~~~  
Dick rolled his eyes and swallowed. “I’m the youngest, why do I have to man up?” he whined at the other Robins before turning to Bruce and asking, “So are we in trouble or not? We’re down here and you said not to, they’ve been telling me stuff too. So if you’re going to be mad just get it over with and if you’re not just SAY something because the tension is making the food taste bad.”  
~~~~  
Damian’s mouth actually fell open in shock. Dick always had the ability to speak openly to his father but even Dick tended to censor himself unless it was a shouting match then all bets were off.   
Tim started coughing since laughing and swallowing at the same time didn't seem to be working out. 

Bruce actually had the decency to smile, even chuckle. “No I’m not mad. Turns out that while you are a younger version of you, you’re not in danger of disrupting or endangering your time stream. You are a younger version of yourself but in this date and time. You won't go back in time and if you remember when you’re changed back it won't make a difference since the older you already knows all of this. You’re in a fixed point in time. In the here and now. You’re just a different age.”  
~~~~  
Dick only grasped about half of that, “Soooo, we can stop tiptoeing around stuff? AWESOME, what about this girl robin, and what’s a Batgirl?” Dick started letting questions fly rapid fire, barely giving anyone a chance to answer them.

“Whoa whoa, slow down, easy tiger.” Jason said with a laugh of his own. “Give B a chance to eat.”  
~~~~  
“Would be nice.” Bruce muttered and started in on his sandwich leaving Dick’s questions unanswered. 

“Barbara Gordon.” Damian supplied. “She was the first Batgirl from what I’m told. You met when you were Robin. Stephanie Brown is the girl Robin who is now Batgirl.” He stopped there and continued eating his food. Leaving it to someone else to answer.  
~~~~  
“Batgirl, is the persona that Barbara took on as a kind of female twist on Robin.” Tim supplied when Damian stopped talking. “She’s about your age, a little older, and the daughter of Commissioner Gordan, who of course has no idea. She was Batgirl for a long time until she got hurt during the mission and lost the use of her legs. Since then she’s kept a more purely research and information based role and goes by Oracle.”

“There’s another Batgirl. Cass. Cassandra Cain. Daughter of Lady Shiva, the assassin who trained Tim. Currently Cass is in Hong Kong keeping that city safe as the Black Bat. Which brings us to Steph. Tim-tim’s little girlfriend.” Jason teased.

“Ex-girlfriend.” Tim insisted.

“Who ACTUALLY stays an ex after dating you Babybird? I hear your nest is never empty.” Jason teased. “Anyways, Tim got caught at being Robin by his dad who threw a fit and said no. So while he was sorting out his home life, Steph stepped up as Robin because she had already had somewhat of experience at the vigilante thing being the masked heroine Spoiler. She got fired, I think. But either way now she’s Batgirl under Babs and rocking that cowl nice.”  
~~~~  
Damian noted the distinct glossing over of Barbara’s injuries and the total skip of Jason’s time as Robin and his death. He agreed with it. Dick just didn't need to know that bit. It hurt him deep before Damian even knew him, had still hurt when Damian had asked about it. He really didn't want to see that again. 

“You’re Nightwing now.” Damian said between bites. “You were Batman when Father went missing but you went back to being Nightwing.”  
~~~~  
“Nightwing?” Dick asked, “Cool! That sounds totally mysterious and awesome!” Dick set down his sandwich and drew his forearm across his face, “I am the terror, that flaps in the night!” He paused, “No, wait, that’s Darkwing Duck.”

Jason laughed so hard he got hot sauce up his nose.  
~~~~  
Tim rolled his eyes at the reference. “I never liked that show.” 

“Agreed.” Damian piped up. “Its a mockery of the mission and the cowl.”

Tim shrugged. “I just didn't like the animation. They could have done so much better. But YOU,” He pointed at Dick. “Watched that show on repeat the whole time you were deaged last time. I’m not sitting through that again.”

“I applaud your patience, Timothy.” Damian complimented, there was no way he could sit through that for long amounts of time. Scooby-Doo he could watch for hours but the silliness of Darkwing Duck had its limits.  
~~~~  
“I am the beak, that PECKS at your nightmares!” Dick tried again, “...No, I’d swear that’s Darkwing Duck too.”

Jason was blowing his nose, frantically trying to clear it of hot sauce while laughing and choking. Dick was amazed that Jason wasn’t blue in the face or passed out by now.  
~~~~  
“Not surprisingly you make just as bad statements in the field.” Damian bit into his sandwich as he thought back on some truly awful puns. “I feel the need to inform you that puns are not funny. However many times you try. Also a pun war with the Riddler is not necessary.” 

“Neither is having a ‘yo mamma’ insult war, but that was funny.” Tim chuckled.  
~~~~  
“Robins are supposed to be the light hearted one of the dynamic duo.” Dick protested, “You two are sticks in the mud. Damian I can sort of get because he’s new to having fun but YOU…” Dick thought of the other’s name, “Tim. You, I won’t excuse. You’re gonna have to prove that I don’t have to teach you how to have fun or you’re next!” Dick threatened with a smirk.  
~~~~  
Tim laughed, “Not really a threat considering you’d rope me into having your kind of fun anyway. You forget, I know your tricks, and no we will NOT play ultimate roller skate tag. Alfred made it clear that was never happening again.”

“Ultimate what?” Damian asked.

“Forget it. It was dangerous.” Tim warned.

“Sounds fun” Damian replied.

“The Antiques didn't agree.” Alfred stated firmly. “Despite the young gentleman's efforts to glue them back together.”  
~~~~  
“So…” Dick said slowly, “What you’re saying is…. not in the house.” Dick sat up excitedly, “Because Ultimate Rollerskate Tag sounds AWESOME and we totally have to do that but with roller derby. There was a commercial for a roller derby team in Gotham. What’s roller derby? I wanna try it. And we can throw in dodgeball!”

“Absolutely not, young master Richard.” Alfred said primly. “I do not relish setting more broken bones than I already have to.”

Dick whined complaint, but at the sound of his actual first name in that voice that sounded more like the stuffy Alfred he remembered, he let himself be talked down.  
~~~~  
“Besides, roller derby is banned in Gotham. Seems all the bad guys either like to make deals there or join in on the action. A lot of bad things happen when roller derby tries to make a comeback.” Tim said soberly.

Damian turned to Tim. “Is that why the circus isn't allowed here anymore? After-” 

“Damian!” Bruce snapped. He knew the kid was asking an honest question, since no one had been willing to tell the whole story just pieces of it but Dick didn’t need to hear about his precious circus burning to the ground and members of his family dying... again.

“Sorry.” He amended quickly. He’d hoped that since answers were freely being given he might ask a few of his own. That seemed to be a bad idea.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Everyone! Thank you for sticking with us for the this RP and we hope you enjoyed it so far! 
> 
> So this is the last chapter of the first part of the 'Little' series. We are currently working on the second part, 'Grown Up' and may add in chapters of flashbacks or moments, etc. So look forward to that soon!
> 
> Feedback is always welcome and loved!

Dick blinked, twice. “I’m… I’m full.” he stammered trying for casualness and a smile and knowing he didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of fooling a single one of them, “I’m going to go up and take a shower.” and Dick turned to leave behind the pain in his chest. The circus wasn’t allowed in Gotham because bad things happen when it does. Ten years later and Haley’s Circus doesn’t come to Gotham. Dick took the stairs because he didn’t think he could stand still enough for the elevator ride up to the main house. Dick didn’t want his sadness to make the others sad. They all had their little sadnesses, especially Bruce it seemed, and he didn’t want to add with his. He wanted to be alone, but more than anything he hoped someone would follow him so he wouldn’t have to be.  
~~~~  
Damian didn't need to look up to know everyone was mad at him... as per usual. He wasn't even sure what he done this time. However, as always he’d have to find a way to fix the problem he created.

He stood quickly, “I’ll fix it.” He stated even if no one had asked him too. He ran to catch up to Dick. 

“I’m sorry.” He said the second he got close enough for the other to hear. “Please... I’m sorry.”   
~~~~  
Dick looked around him at where he was in the halls. He recognized his location by the portraits on the walls and, grabbing Damian’s hand opened a door to a sitting room or a study, or some kind of room with places to sit and a desk. Dick shut the door and was so glad that Damian had come. “Can… Damian… can you- can you please hug me?” Dick asked, body straining not to just fling himself at the other boy, but he wanted a hug, he wanted Damian to hug him and he wanted to cry and he wanted to thank Damian for not leaving him alone and he wanted to tell Damian it was alright but he didn’t know if he could tell this story about his circus. For him it was only months ago.  
~~~~  
Damian nodded curtly and pulled the other boy close, wrapping him in his arms like Dick did to him so many times. He did his best to do this for Dick and do it right. He’d messed up and hurt him and he hadn't meant to. He never wanted to hurt Dick. 

“I’m really sorry ok?” Damian’s chest felt tight and he held tighter. Would Dick forgive him? He didn't know. “I’ll answer any question and not hold anything back. I promise. I’ll-I’ll even break into the encrypted files to find the answers if you want. Just... please don't be sad or mad at me. Ok?”  
~~~~  
Dick felt his tears dry up with a sniff. “H-huh?” Dick pulled back and looked at Damian. “No. Thanks but no I…” Dick scratched his half dry hair. “Ugh. It’s just… for me … it wasn’t even a year ago. My circus. I don’t like thinking about it, and definitely not talking about it. I remembered something that made me sad, something I don’t want to remember when you asked and … you, all of you, you’re all sad. I didn’t want to add mine, there’s too much already. When I’m older, if I remember me now, I’ll remember to talk to you about it. But… I can’t be the boy wonder if I let it live in me too much. Bruce is always reminding me it’s not about revenge, it’s about Justice.”  
~~~~  
“That is a lesson you had to teach me when Father was away. As well as ‘showing emotion isn't wrong or weak. Emotions should be shared to help each other heal.’” Damian sighed. “I know you don't want to talk about it so just listen ok? One of the few things I do know, is you were the one who chose not to let the circus come back. You had said there were better places for them and that they needed a change in route.” Damian huffed. “Then you left with them for a time. A long time. You said you might have had to leave once but you always go back every so often. I thought it was because you owned it at first but I know now its because its your home too. From what I know the place is doing much better not coming to Gotham. It goes to New York though. Thats only a three hour drive from here. You go and perform everytime it comes. You said you’d take me sometime and you were stupidly happy about it.” Damian sighed he could feel his face heating up. “You’re not always sad. In fact you’re usually just as ridiculously happy as you were earlier. Bouncy, stupid and happy with that big dumb smile and your idiotic need for hugging.”   
~~~~  
“That started out awesome and then you just… totally lost the vibe.” Dick said, trying and failing not to laugh, it was good to know, at least vaguely that Haley’s was taken care of. Possibly even by him? Dick thought for a moment then asked, “Hey, Damian? Do you think it’d be a good thing or a bad thing if when I go back to being older that I remember this time I’m like this?”  
~~~~  
“TT-. As long as you don't remember my failings, I’m sure we’ll survive.” Damian sighed. “I really don't know. I suppose that if you do you might be sad since remembering means the sadness will be there too but... Do you want to remember this?”   
~~~~  
“I don’t think that it’d be bad, but all I know is ten years out of date.” Dick said, thinking about it. “On the one hand, OH MY GOSH ROBINS.” Dick held one hand out, palm up, “On the other, what HAPPENED to your whole family? And no, that’s not a question I actually want you to answer. Especially not with the hacking and stuff.” Dick said, holding his other hand out. “I’m learning a lot about you, and about me from you, and I think that that’s important somehow. Like, knowing you when I’m more your age is important.” Dick dropped his hands, “Or something. I really don’t know what I’m talking about.”  
~~~~  
Damian had been ready to answer with a full history of the entire family until Dick stopped him. Damian looked at him quizzically. He couldn't help but wonder how much Dick really did and didn't know. ‘Knowing you when I’m more your age is important.’ was ringing in his ears and he didn't know how to feel about that. Happy that Dick wanted to understand him better or angry that Dick felt he needed to age down to meet him on his level or some crap. He huffed and quelled the feeling out of frustration. He’d have to figure that out later. 

“For once I do not have an answer for you.” He answered a bit annoyed at the complexity and frustration of it all. “I won't lie to you. There is a lot of bad that happens in this family. You said we have a lot of sadness and that is true. However, you once told me that despite all the bad that happens we stand together as a family. No matter how angry, broken, or messed up we are, we’re still family.”  
~~~~  
“The family got big.” Dick remarked. “So many Robins. And you said there are Batgirls? Alfred the cat, because he counts just as much as Tidus does. That’s a lot of places sad can happen, a lot of healing to do, a lot of anger and breaking and messiness. Thinking with how many others he’s drawn in close, I guess I can understand why Bruce grew up and got scared, even if I don’t like it.” Dick folded his arms.  
~~~~  
“There is also a turkey and a cow on the grounds. Thanksgiving is now a vegan affair.” Damian crossed his arms in pride and defiance. “Also Father is not scared. He’s Batman. I cannot imagine my Father not being grown up. Somehow I still expect him to be bigger than he is.”  
~~~~  
“And the thanksgiving protest animals that also count.” Dick said, offhandedly, accepting and moving past the small beginnings of a farm on the grounds in favor of trying to decipher what might have happened that year. “And Bruce IS scared, and he’s a lot older than when I know him. It’s in the way his face doesn’t show what he thinks when the masks are off. It’s weird really, Alfred being so warm and kind, and Bruce being standoffish and sharp. It’s like it’s opposite day but nobody told me so I could get out a suit and a briefcase full of boring paperwork and play along too. Except it’s not, and Bruce has this huge sadness all over him. I don’t know what made it grow, Bruce always had a sadness, a fear in him, but he used to use it as a springboard to push him up and over the obstacles in his life. Now he wears it like a kid would wear a security blanket, praying that it’ll keep the monsters away.” Dick thought about it a bit more, “Even though he knows better.”  
~~~~  
“There is nothing I can tell you other than the truth and you said not to tell you.” Damian sighed thinking about all the things he shouldn’t tell Dick. It was sad. All of it. There was just too much loss and hurt. “I can not imagine my Father being open or warm in any capacity but from what I know about this family and what everyone has been through, I can understand.” He stopped to think very hard about what he was going to say next. He didn't want to say what happened for fear of hurting Dick but he wanted him to understand. “Sometimes bad things happen that leave a mark but not where one can see. Like a scar on one’s soul. A person can only take so many scars before they take their toll. From what I know, Father has many of these scars. We... we all do.” Damian huffed. “Its not all bad though! You’re here.”   
~~~~  
Dick thought about that, ten years was a long time for sadness to happen to anyone, but for the Batman? It was a lifetime. “Of course it can’t be all bad, the family got bigger, that’s more people to love and depend on and stuff.” But Dick knew that it was also more opportunities for sadness. “It’s just… He knows better, I know he knows better because he keeps telling me not to let my own past rule me when I get down. I try, I really do, but it’s not like I ever stop missing my family, my home, my circus.” Dick trailed off. “I’m going to take a shower, for real this time.” Dick put a hand on the door knob, “It’s not that I don’t want you to tell me about our family Damian, It’s just that… All that about hacking and stuff, I don’t need that. I’d rather you just talked to me like a friend.” Dick flashed Damian a grin, “Or a big brother! Hey, you get to be the big brother while I’m like this, isn’t that neat?”  
~~~~  
“As I have said, it isn't all bad. We all have a home here, and you have stated its importance in the past. This is your family and home now too. I’m...” Damian huffed as he struggled with the thought of being a big brother. Dick wasn't someone he saw as a brother figure. Drake and Todd certainly. Even Cain and Brown were siblings. The more he thought about it the more he wondered what did he see Dick as? A mentor to be sure. He learned from him constantly. He was someone he held in high regard but not as a parental figure. He did like the thought of talking to Dick as a friend however. Someone he can talk to. Relate to. Confide in. He was going to have to spend some time thinking on this before he’d be able to draw a solid conclusion. “I’m not sure I’m comfortable with that. I’m much more comfortable with being your friend if thats alright with you.”  
~~~~  
“Friends.” Dick agreed, smiling. “I’m good with that.”


End file.
